


if love is a lie (then why do we need it?)

by midnighthail



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Bilingual Lance (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gay Keith (Voltron), Hurt Keith (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Oblivious Lance (Voltron), Oblivious Space Boys, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron), Temporarily Unrequited Love, meanwhile keith suffers, okay maybe not lance is too much of an oblivious hoe thats all, pining galore, slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-06-07 06:31:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15213233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnighthail/pseuds/midnighthail
Summary: A boy with nothing finds his everything when:1. He agrees to teach a genius girl hippo drawings in exchange for math tutoring.2. He doesn't hesitate to forgive when a boy he calls by secret nickname flings lettuce over his desk while also apologizing profusely.3. He sings a song that has a boy with electric eyes and golden skin gravitating to him.He loses it all when:1. Love becomes too much for him to handle.In which Keith gets scared of his feelings, runs away, only to return years later with a vow: never again. Unfortunately for him, the universe likes to mess with him in the worst ways possible.





	1. chapter one; of friends and singing

**Author's Note:**

> Warning! This is long!
> 
> Hey! Wow, people are actually reading this, like what are you doing I'm sure you have better things to do but don't leave because I live for validation
> 
> Well anyways thanks to anyone who leaves kudos, comments, bookmarks this, or hell even if youre a silent reader. Thank you. you all really do mean a lot to me no i mean it i have literal flutters in my heart when i think of you guys love you so muchhhh
> 
> anyways i hope you guys enjoy my story. i wrote it with the most amazing klance fics in mind (*see: dirty laundry, call me, beep me, hearts don't break around here, etc etc) because in this regard, im a hopeless noob cause this is my first ever klance fic so (*see: paragraph above) thanks so much again for the support
> 
> song title from Illenium's Beautiful Creatures ft. MAX. listen to it it's hella good
> 
> lastly, i don't own any of the characters in this story. they all belong to dreamworks and i only own the plot and such
> 
> Enjoy!

**Nine Years Ago, when Keith was ten years old**

 

 

Keith swung his red and black backpack down to his seat, shoulder aching from having to carry a buttload of books up three flights of stairs.

The action caused the chair to move and scrape the ground with a loud scratching noise that seemed to echo in the empty classroom. He winced, though he had no reason to. From a quick glance around, he realized he was one of the measly two people in the classroom. The other was a student who had their head cradled in their hands on the desk, seemingly still not used to the early rise.

He puffed out his cheeks slightly, letting the air out as a few moments crept by.

The windows at the side of the classroom showed the sky turning a nice shade of blueish white gradient. As the minute hand on the clock on the wall made a full journey from 1 to 12, more students trickled in and soon the whole classroom was bursting with ten year olds chatting about their breaks.

He observed the noisy scene around him none too caringly, sitting alone on his desk with nothing but his own self for entertainment. Leaning away when a group of way too pushy boys got too caught up in their play fight that they almost swat him in the head, he straightened his desk when one of them brushed roughly against it.

It was as if he sat in a bubble, where he didn't bother with anyone and no one bothered him.

Eyeing the group of ruffians warily, Keith fiddled with a pencil, absentmindedly doodling occasionally on the desk. A loud voice yelling, "Hunk, you big fluffy bean! Come over here!" took him by surprise and he ended up accidentally dragging his thumb over his doodles and unfortunately smearing them to just little patches of shiny granite. Pouting slightly at one of a hippo half submerged in water (he actually did like that one and thought it wasn't half bad.), he turned slightly to where the obtrusive voice had come from.

A lanky kid with shaggy brown hair that covered his ears, it was so long compared to Keith's own short hair, which was cut to about an inch from his scalp, stood a few desks away from him.

The kid had a bright smile on his face, way too smiley in Keith's own personal opinion, but he kept observing him as the smiley boy opened up his arms to a pudgier and taller kid. "Hey, Lance." The pudgy kid said, lower voice much more soothing on Keith's ears after the boy presumably named Lance's screech of a greeting.

Pudgy accepted Lance's offer of hug and held him in place while asking about his break.

Keith quickly lost interest in the duo and turned back around to check the time. Ten more minutes till class starts.

He picked up the pencil from before and the books required for the first class before deciding to attempt the hippo doodle again (he really did like it a lot.) on the first blank space he saw on the first page of his science textbook. Ten ticked down to nine, nine to eight, eight to seven and so on. The whole time Keith worked on his hippo, deciding last minute to draw stubby legs instead of ripples of water instead, while Lance and Pudgy talked non-stop behind him (well, it was mostly Lance.) about baking classes, skateboards and coming over to each other's houses after school ended.

 

 

**A Few Months After That, when Keith's hated subject made him a new friend**

 

 

It wasn't till the middle of the year did Keith get his first friend. Well, at first he thought their relationship didn't qualify for each other to be called friends just yet, more like an acquaintance. One who seemed to enjoy watching him draw hippos in the margins of his exercise books while she fiddled with multiple electronic devices, always so interested with the sizzling wires and complicated motherboards.

Of course, Pidge didn't lug around entire computers for her entertainment, no, she had a handheld tablet which she could design to do almost anything.

This was one of the factors how they came to know each other in the first place.

Keith wasn't too taken by the girl at first, when she first popped up at around May. Mrs. Jenny, Keith's class teacher, introduced her as Katie Holt and promptly captured the entire class' rapt attention when she mentioned that Katie was a two years younger than them. Keith had kinda already gathered by her looks that she was super smart.

Perched on her dainty nose was a pair of the biggest glasses he'd ever seen, though they did nothing to hide the fact that her eyes were unusually sharp and calculating though she seemed to dial it down with a mask of nonchalance. No fooled in the least by the mask, Keith figured out later down the line that that was only one of her tactics to scare others out of their skin when she warbled out genius stuff just to spite them.

She was assigned a seat next to Keith and besides her genius, Keith figured he wouldn't really bother about her, he was just going to stay in his bubble.

It was only when the younger girl laid her maths homework flat on her desk, pinning it down from flying away with a few colorful erasers did she catch his fleeting attention. Then she produced a tablet and in a second, captured a picture of the entire worksheet. Keith stared at her while she prodded at the tablet, glasses glinting. After a few moments, she let out a satisfied hum and began to write the answers down on the page, not even stopping to read the questions, it seemed. She had realized Keith's intent stare after filling out question number 16.

"What?" She asked him, sniffling a bit as he alternated his curious gaze from her to her worksheet then to her tablet.

"How'd you do that?" He choked the words out, not used to talking to classmates, especially not to one who had just gotten all the answers on her worksheet by magically pressing a few buttons, which to ten year old Keith was an absolute miracle.

"You mean the answers to this maths worksheet?" She asked again, freeing the paper from its eraser prison to wave about in front of his face. Keith nodded. "I just scanned it onto this." She said proudly, waving her tablet in his face now. "My brother made a program that helps me do math just by taking a picture of it. He installed this thing that does automatic calculations based on-" Keith zoned out after that. Not his fault, he really did try to understand, (anything to get out of math worksheets.) but after a while, the technical terms got too complicated for his child mind.

He waited patiently till she finished before asking shyly, "Could you do the same thing for my worksheet too?"

His heart sank when Katie shoved her glasses further up her nose before saying in a reluctant tone, "Why?" He faltered, helpless and at a loss for words, because the only excuse he could give (that he really didn't understand it and it made him frustrated to do it without help.) was also one that he wasn't sure if she could understand, given the fact she was a literal child prodigy.

. "Do you really not know how to do it or are you just lazy? Because Matt says lazy people don't get very far in life."

Heat crept up Keith's face. "I'm not lazy." He muttered, indignant at the probe. "You don't look like you're lazy. I've seen you work hard at Science, even if all you do sometimes is draw hippos." Katie offered, shrugging, "So you really don't know how to do it?" Keith nodded silently.

"Well, if it's like that," Katie bit her lip, words coming out at a achingly slow rate for Keith. "I still won't help you." Keith felt his heart sink to the floor again. "But, I can teach you. That way, you will know it your whole life." Katie continued, a gleam in her eyes when Keith perked up considerably.

"I still need a little bit more payment though." Keith nodded vigorously, eager to please now. "What is it?"

"I will teach you math, but in turn you need to teach me how to draw a hippo." Keith smiled softly, not too used with the stretch of his lips when he did. As he peered at Katie's grinning face, he figured that he'll soon be though.

 

 

 

**About a Week After, after many crumpled math worksheets and messy hippo scrawls**

 

 

 

Keith and Katie had after school study sessions now, usually every day since Katie had to wait an hour anyways for her older brother Matt (Keith's met him a few times now, he looked a lot like Katie and was just as smart.) to finish up in his after school activities.

Keith found out they both loved computers, had only one pair of glasses that they alternated between each other and both also had an almost concerning admiration for Keith's hippo doodles. "Wow." Matt had said after maybe the third study session and Katie had shown him her drawing of a hippo lounging on grass that Keith had instructed her to draw. "Congrats, Keith. You've done the impossible and actually managed to teach Katie here something on drawing."

"Hey!" Katie shoved him laughingly, earning her a quick Oof! of surprise from Matt and a hurt but still fond look as he cradled his side where she had driven her elbow. "Like you're any better! That picture you made of mom looked like more like a cabbage with flesh and eyes than it did a human being!" "That was six years ago, Pidge. And it's still pinned to the fridge in an honorary spot so don't you even start!"

Keith had watched them with wide eyes (funny how he could easily see Shiro and himself in Matt and Katie), before murmuring, "Pidge?"

"A nickname." Matt clarified, leaning on Katie AKA Pidge's head, checking out his nails while his sister fumed under his elbow. "She loves it." He said at the same time Katie said, "I hate it."

"I like it." Keith shrugged, before agreeing to teaching Matt how to draw hippos too. There was a curious look in Katie and/or Pidge's eyes and from then on, Katie was Pidge.

Another exciting thing was that Matt had started to join them during study sessions as well, filling in for substitute teacher when Pidge had enough of numbers for the day (she says this, but Keith knows it's because she wants to practice more hippos.). Alongside Matt came Shiro, Keith's foster brother, but he prefers to just say brother.

Shiro usually has after school activites too but still finds the time to pop up at their table. Sometimes, they bring another one of their classmates that Keith knows but isn't too close to. A pretty girl named Allura. He's heard Shiro talk about her at home but Keith hasn't actually seen her yet, which was swiftly remedied when she tagged along with Shiro and Matt to Keith and Pidge's table.

She'd cooed at their hippos and praised them on their worksheets. Overall Keith liked her.

As a conclusion, Keith is pretty glad he'd taken up on Pidge's offer of tutoring for hippo doodles, he decided as he lazily draws another hippo as the end of yet another enjoyable session is spent listening to Pidge and Matt bickering about whose hippo was better.

His face is finally getting used to all the smiles, giggles and crinkles in the corners of his eyes now.

 

 

 

**The Next Thursday, the day when Pudgy finally gets a real name**

 

 

 

Other than his new friendship with Pidge, his newfound ability to understand math much more better now and his clear infatuation with hippos (this one's not so new), Keith hasn't changed much. He's still the loner in class, the one that no one really pays attention to and if they did, they'd forget him almost immediately.

In a classroom full of endless school drama, his bubble remains intact, expanding only a little bit to include Pidge in it. She's the only one he ever talks to and sometimes, he wonders if he's a bother, but his fears are immediately shut down with a firm, "Never. Now show me how you draw a hippo with wings holding a pizza box." In short, he's eternally grateful.

They find other stuff besides hippos and maths to talk about, such as books and people in class. Turns out Pidge has managed to know ten times more about their classmates in about three months now than Keith who had double the time. He's found out when Pidge starts rambling about a boy named Hunk and how they had started to talking about computers and stuff that Keith has now learned to accept that he'll never fully understand.

"Who's Hunk?" He had asked a little timidly, only shrinking more into himself when faced with Pidge's incredulous gaze and open mouth. "You've been in the same class for almost every day for at least six months now, Keith and you still don't know who Hunk is." Pidge said, adjusting her glasses the way she did when she disapproved of something.

Keith withered slightly under her sharp gaze. "Sorry?" He offered. Pidge sighed and shook her head, "Nevermind, I'll introduce you. Maybe then you can teach him to draw hippos too."

"Sounds nice." Keith had muttered, eyes wandering to a notebook in Pidge's desk that she called her _Keith Book_ , which held all the contents of their study sessions together, all consisting of mathematical equations and symbols and of course, hippo doodles. Keith flips through it every now and then. He has to admit, Pidge was getting better with every hippo.

He jumped violently when Pidge's small hands suddenly slammed on the surface of the table. "Hunk!" Instinctively, Keith glared at Pidge for scaring him while turning around to see who she was calling for.

A solidly built boy was walking through the door of the classroom and nearly dropped his sack lunch when Pidge called out his name. Cocking his head, Keith couldn't help but feel a tendril of familiarity as he watched the boy saunter over.

Oh.

"Pudgy." It dawned on Keith and he didn't realize he's said his thoughts aloud till Pidge looked at him weird but dismissed it as soon as Hunk/Pudgy arrived in front of them. "What's up, Pidge?"

"Nothing. Just wanted to introduce my pathetic loner friend here to you. He needs friends." The last sentence was whispered behind a hand but Keith could hear just fine.

"That's not funny." He retaliated, crossing his arms, more of habit than actual annoyance at Pidge.

"Oh, I've seen you around a few times before." Hunk recalled, before a look of despair overtook his features and Keith briefly wondered frantically if he was going to burst in tears. "Oh my god, I've never actually said anything to you, haven't I?" Hunk then continued to apologize profusely. Pidge raised her eyebrow with a smirk before turning to Keith, "Have I ever told you how Hunk is also a huge sweet bean?"

"I don't deserve that title!" Hunk groaned into his sack lunch, digging around it miserably. "I can't believe I've completely overlooked you and didn't even bother to say hi."

"I-It's alright." Keith said a little stiffly, still not used to the concept of friendliness. "I've had Pidge." The small girl shifted slightly beside him and mumbled something that sounded vaguely like "And you better be on your knees with thanks and adoration." that Keith decided to ignore. "Well, my friend, you have me now too." Hunk declared solemnly. "And as your newly appointed friend, I promise to bring you cookies as often as I can." Keith glanced at Pidge who had a smug grin on her face, "Told you he's a angel sent from heaven."

Then turning to face Hunk, she asked, "Where's Lance?" Hunk, now consoled of his ignoring Keith by his intent to stuff him to the point of bursting with cookies, looked up from his sandwich. "He's off with his other buddies."

Pidge had a murderous look on her face and when she spoke, it was with a dangerous tone, "He didn't ditch you, did he?" Even Keith wrinkled his nose at that, despite his lack of social interactions, he knew ditching was a strict no-no.

"No, no, no!" Hunk hurriedly waved his arms and in turn his sandwich in the air, sending bits of lettuce flying about. Keith flicked a piece with a spot of mayo off the edge of his chair. "He's thinking of joining after school activities, the swimming team, to be exact. And he just happened to have a meeting right now, so obviously I didn't want in. So I figured I'd come back here." Pidge relaxed a bit before saying, "Tell him I still haven't forgiven him for the cheese incident that day."

"Cheese incident?" Keith spluttered, eyes disbelievingly wide. "Who is this Lance guy?" He muttered the latter sentence in a hushed tone. He knew perfectly well who Lance was. His ears still hurt from the screech show Lance had done the first day of school. And he hasn't quietened down much since, Keith realized sourly, pursing his lips.

He'd seen Lance plenty times since then. The boy was as rowdy as a whole tent of circus clowns, something that Keith couldn't stand. He'd seen Lance hang out with the popular guys, the ones who went around the school breaking rules and basically be obnoxious, attention-craving, meddlesome, lousy little airbags. Now that he thought about it, he almost couldn't believe such a cheap character was supposedly good friends with Hunk. Hunk, of all people. Hunk, who was as sweet as sugar and as angelic as all Heaven above, even if Keith had only just met him.

"Yeah, something about attempting to lure Pidge's computer mouse with a block of Parmesan cheese from the cafeteria." Hunk explained, eyes laughing as Pidge continued to simmer with rage. "Come on, Pidge. It was a little funny."

Keith intervened just that second because Pidge looked to be on the verge of spitting out some very well-chosen words of profanity. "So this Lance is your best friend, on the swimming team, a prankster but also sort of a jerk." He deadpanned.

Hunk chewed slowly before nodding, "Pretty much. But, hey-" Keith tensed when a big hand clamped down onto his shoulder, the warmth from Hunk's palm seeping through his red spaceship shirt and into his bones. "Don't judge him at first glance. He might seem 'sort of a jerk' at first, but if there's anything I'm sure of in this entire universe, it's that Lance really is a good sorta guy. So if you meet him one day," Hunk gave Keith a small wink. "give him a chance."

Keith nodded slowly, well too aware of the spot of heat that still lingered on his shoulder even after Hunk continued to use both hands to munch on his sandwich. "Okay."

Though he doubted he'll ever catch the Cuban boy's eye.

 

 

 

**The Following Tuesday**

 

 

 

If you told Keith that a movie night with Shiro that consisted of a hundred Disney movies would change his life forever, he'd laugh in your face. First of all, Disney?

Second of all, his life was already sort of changed already, why would he want to change it more? He got what he needed and he was happy (is this what friends do to you?).

Nevertheless, he'd enjoyed the movies, specifically one that had a princess with magic hair locked in a tower and a dashing thief that finally found the real deal in life when he met said princess. And of course, he had searched up the song lyrics in the middle of the night, eyes bleary from the strong light of his phone while he ran through the songs in his head, unexpectedly committing them to memory. Now, he hummed.

He never hummed. He had problems talking and holding up a non-awkward conversation with other people, let alone having the guts to sing. Still, he did. Hummed like nobody's business and sang some of the words too, as he shuffled through his homework during recess.

Pidge had gone to take care of some business (Keith suspected she was on her way to bribe the librarian to give her access to the wifi password of the school.) and Hunk was MIA too, though Keith figured he was probably with Lance.

He was proven wrong immediately when a mop of thick shaggy brown hair popped up in his vision. Much to his embarrassment, Keith, as a result of being too into his soft singing, all but yelped in fright and surprise as the hair talked in an excited voice, "Oh my God, you know Tangled!"

He very nearly fell off his chair before arms reached out for his shoulders, steadying him. "Whoops, sorry! Hunk told me to not just pop up with no warning, but, heh, guess I'll never learn, huh?" Keith stared up at a familiar face and, with a voice that dripped nonchalance, said, "Lance."

Said boy perked up at the sound of his name from Keith's lips, "Hunk told you about me?" He grinned at Keith's nod. "He's a great friend. Now, back to business, you were singing a song from Tangled!"

Keith widened his eyes, heat creeping up his neck and invading his face. He was singing, wasn't he? He suddenly understood Pidge's need to let loose a couple of curses from time to time, he felt the exact same right about now.

"I wasn't." He said nonetheless, though he knew it was a helpless situation. Lance's brown face fell for a split second before the grin returned full force, if not stronger. "Uh, uh, uh, Keithy-boy. You can't lie to me now."

"Keithy-?" The raven haired boy spluttered disbelievingly.

"That's right. I heard you singing with my own two ears." Lance emphasized this by pointing to his ears. With his attention drawn to them, Keith thought they stuck a little bit too far from his face and maybe were a tad too big. He shrugged the fact off, face still burning. He surprised himself with the fierce frown on his face and attempted to smooth it over. "Maybe I was. What's it to you?" Keith expected Lance to bite back a snappy retort, but instead the boy scraped a nearby chair to place beside Keith's desk and sat down on it.

Keith squinted at him suspiciously. Either Lance didn't see it or he didn't care, either way he rambled on.

"I love Tangled. I just watched it yesterday for like the hundredth time, it's so good. I know all the songs and even the dance moves." Keith watched him intently as he went on and on. He was still uncertain, but felt himself relax as he listened to the endless stream of chatter Lance provided. "You were singing I see the Light just now and- Oh, no. Don't even try to say you weren't singing! I know a Disney song when I hear one, buzzcut."

Keith's hand instinctively floated up to his short hair and he was reminded once again of how much different his and Lance's hair was. He frowned. "At least, I don't have a mop on top of my head."

"Hey! Take that back."

"Not until you tell me your favorite character."

"Pfft, Flynn Ryder, duh!"

That night, Keith flopped down on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, with a slight frown on his forehead. The only thought that was running through his head was _What The Heck_?

Keith was probably sprawled out on his bed for a longer time than he'd imagined because soon a soft knock came from his door, before it slid open, revealing Shiro with a slight cleft between his own brows too, though his wasn't from confusion but instead concern. "Hey, Keith. You ok?"

The same concern was evident in his voice and Keith felt a warm feeling in his chest upon hearing it. He abandoned his sprawl and rolled onto his side instead, facing Shiro.

"What would you do if a very popular guy who is also a troublemaker and a tiny bit of a jerk came up to you and caught you singing and then talked to you the whole day and maybe you thought you'd hate him but now you actually really like him and wanna be friends?" Keith said this all in one breath and suppressed a small smile at the sight of Shiro opening and closing his mouth like a fish, unable to process it all in one go.

"Mind repeating everything you just said there?"

Keith sighed. "I don't know how to feel." He fell back into his starfish position, legs dangling off the side of the bed. "What if he stops talking to me? Will he?" Keith's mouth babbled on, eyes widening at the thought of not talking to Lance again. He liked collecting friends and being able to talk to them and spending time with them. Okay, maybe, collecting wasn't the word he was looking for, a little too extra.

Keith settled for _making_ friends instead.

Then he realized with a tinge of horror that he actually wanted to be friends with Lance. Oh, he definitely didn't know what to think now. "And why would he do that?"

Shiro sounded closer than before and Keith raised his head to look at his brother leaning on his desk. Keith gave a huff, "I don't know. He's mega popular and I'm just-" He trailed off. "I have a total of two friends in class."

To his horror and exasperation, Shiro had the gall to chuckle. "Three, if you're counting this guy. What did you talk about?" "Tangled." Shiro really did laugh at that.

"Wait, didn't you say you were singing? Jesus, don't tell me you were singing that song!"

"Shiro, you're supposed to be helping me!" Keith threw his pillow at the general direction of Shiro's explosive laughter. A faint _thwump_ told him he'd hit his target, though he only celebrated halfheartedly. Seconds later, the soft pillow bounced back onto his bed, landing near his head. "Listen, baby bro." Shiro ignored Keith's weak whine of protest at the pet name and continued on, "Don't stress too much about it. If he wants to talk, he'll talk."

"You don't get it!" Keith groaned, folding in on himself, bringing his knees to his chest. "He's gonna think I'm weird and antisocial because I never talk and the whole class besides three people will never notice if I disappeared. He's gonna think talking to me will bring his social status or something down. He'll hate me! He'll be nasty and make Hunk cry and tease Pidge about her mouse and he'll _hate_ me!"

A few moments of silence passed by after this outburst before Keith heard a rustling sound that sounded suspiciously like Shiro running a hand across his face. "Man, I forgot just how awfully concerned kids your age are about their popularity. Also, hate is a pretty stronng word, Keith."

Keith grumbled into his pillow.

More shuffling was heard and Keith felt himself being turned over by a gentle but firm grip. 'Keith, hear me out. If this guy, what's his name?"

"Lance."

"Right, if Lance does think that way," Keith gave a little groan at this, "then he wasn't good enough to talk with you in the first place, okay? You might not have a social circle as big as his or as many friends as he does, but that doesn't mean you matter less. Don't throw what you're worth down the drain just because someone can't see past the dust and grime to the real deal inside." He gave Keith a little nudge at this, inducing a small watery smile from the younger boy, who snuggled deeper into the blankets.

Shiro, seeing that his job as big brother was done, got to his feet and walked out the door. Keith watched him pause and look back, a suggesting grin on his face. "Come on, little bro. We've got a whole lot more Disney to binge."

 

 

 

**The Next Morning**

 

 

 

Turns out Keith didn't have to worry about anything, because Lance came over to continue their discussion over the best animal sidekick (Keith thought it was Maximus, Lance thought it was Pascal), even after being called over by his other group of friends, the popular boys. Keith'd hung his head in defeat then, accepting the fact that Lance will leave him now and that he'd have to lapse back into silence again. He'd laughed and thrown an arm across Keith's bony shoulders (though Lance's were more bonier than his and more broader too.), flashing a grin and saying that he already had plans. From then on, Lance never left Keith's side.


	2. chapter two; of suitcases and cafes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Well," Allura repeated, drawing the syllable out as long as she could, "We figured to welcome you back into this part of the city again."
> 
> "Yeah?" Keith prompted, eyebrow raised when she paused.
> 
> "We'd have a little celebration." Shiro clarified, eyes stuck on the road before them. "In that cafe that you used to like?"
> 
> "You mean-" Keith gasped, "Wait, Cafe Altea?"
> 
> Allura and Shiro let out tinkling laughter, as Keith gaped at them both. "No way."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello lovelies! glad you decided to stick around on this hell of a ride with me. again thanks for all the kudos, comments and bookmarks you guys bless me with! love you all endlessly <3333 enjoy!

**_Present Day_ **

Keith brushed the hair out of his face, slightly out of breath after wrestling with his suitcase, finally snapping it shut after a lot of pushing, cursing, yelling and overall a frustratingly large amount of inconvenience.

"Done." The word slipped from his lips in a soft murmur. The black haired man looked around at his room.

All cupboards and dressers were stripped of their contents, the many clothes (mostly black and red in color) that had hung in their spaces now unceremoniously stuffed higgledy-piggledy into his suitcase.

Speaking of the wretched thing. he pulled it out of the room and into the hallway where the front door was. All there was is to wait for Shiro to pick him up.

But because there was at least five minutes before his brother was told to show up, Keith took the opportunity to pace once more around his little apartment.

It really was little, the adjective actually an understatement. Consisting of three separate rooms, the apartment had served as a temporary place for Keith to live while he finished a few courses. Now that the year-long studying had come to an end, so had Keith's time in this shabby crumbling unit that he'd learned to call home.

A little wistfully, he traced a hand over the white, peeling walls.

A sudden knock pulled him out of his nostalgia and Keith forced his legs to walk him to the door. A twist of the slightly rusting doorknob revealed Shiro, who gave him a little wave.

Keith raised his hand in response as a fleeting greeting before stooping down to grab his suitcase. "Let me." Shiro's one prosthetic arm wrestled the luggage out of Keith's hands and he slipped his flesh and blood one under, securing it with a tight grip.

"Haven't forgotten anything, haven't you?"

Keith rubbed his nose, tossing a glance into the room. "Not that I know of. Besides, I don't have anything important that isn't inside that." He pointed to the bag in Shiro's arms. The older man raised an eyebrow, "That's not wise, considering that you've probably just shoved everything in."

Keith huffed at the jab while Shiro gave a chuckle which harbored a cluck of disapproval, though he made no move to deny it.

"You ready?" Shiro asked him, noticing the way Keith kept glancing back into the small space he was going to leave behind.

Truthfully, Keith wanted to say no.

"Yeah." He breathed out instead, reaching a hand back to turn the lights off. His chest constricted as the lights flickered out, as if a signal that cemented the fact that he was leaving this place for good.

With shaky hands and a strong will in order to keep them from doing so, Keith locked the door and pocketed the key to leave off at the management.

"Let's go." He said to Shiro, whose worried expression trailed on Keith for a split second more before pretending to be overly invested in his suitcase and the stairwell that he shuffled to hurriedly.

Keith gave a sigh before following him, not relenting to the intense cold in his stomach that urged him to look back at the little apartment and its stupid navy blue door that Keith remembered wincing at (he had found the color a monstrosity when he first moved in.).

The cold didn't release his guts but only swirled itself into a snowstorm when Keith let the keys drop from his fingers to the management desk with a jangle.

It only got worse as he crawled into Shiro's car, turbulence in his head.

He sighed.

Keith hated goodbyes.

 

-

 

_Pidge and Keith sat in their usual spot in the library. Keith, still as stone save for the little nibbling he did on his pencil as he poured over a math question. Pidge, on the other hand, swung her short legs back and forth and muttered softly as she moved on from hippos to drawing triangular robots with a circular light in the center._

_"Hey, Keith!" A loud voice that was all too familiar to Keith now cut through the silence. He made a show of heaving his shoulders up and down in an extravagant sigh but couldn't find the frustration and discomfort that usually came with sighing._

_Soon a hand clapped down on his shoulder and he couldn't help it, he still jumped a little._

_He looked up to see Lance's infectious grin and Hunk's warm wave._

_"Lance, you'll have to be quieter if you don't wanna be turned out of the library again." Hunk reprimanded the taller, lankier boy while sliding his backpack down to the floor and taking a seat next to Pidge, who grunted a greeting as she focused on her doodling._

_Lance nodded earnestly, "Right. Gotcha." He slid into the seat next to Keith, pulling out a bunch of homework and proceeded to spend the next twenty minutes being the quietest Keith's ever seen him._

_He says so, voice a soft whisper. He doesn't know whether it's mainly because that they are in a library after all or maybe that Lance looks so concentrated and serious when he's in this mood and Keith doesn't know he wanted to disturb him out of it._

_"What?" Lance's voice sounds dry from his quietness._

_"I said," Keith says just as softly as the first time, "You are being awfully quiet, not like the Lance I'm used to."_

_"Hi, I'm quiet Lance." Lance suddenly laughs, silent gasps of air escaping his mouth. "I usually come out when there's homework to do and when I don't wanna be thrown out of the library."_

_"I like quiet Lance." Keith decides, pushing his pencil around. "Not that normal Lance isn't nice too. Lance is nice in general, I guess. You're nice in general."_

_Keith turns back to his own work then, completely missing how Lance's cheeks begin to dust with a shy sheen of pink._

 

-

 

 

He was silent for the majority of the ride to Shiro's own apartment, which he shared with his significant other, Allura. Keith was to crash with them whilst he tried to get on his own feet in the adult world.

His foster parents, knowing that Shiro and Allura were both in their early twenties now and both have had sufficient amount of knowledge about adulthood, suggested he get out of his small meager apartment and spend a little while with them to get his wits together.

Allura had responded in earnest, agreeing to it straightaway and clapping her hands together in glee at the idea of having another person in the house.

A fond adoration settled in Keith's still ice-cold chest for the moment.

He knew Allura loved Shiro but what he also acknowledged was that the older woman harbored a soft spot for Keith, having heard Shiro whine consistently when he got Allura to do something for him she wouldn't do for Shiro.

She said it was because they've known each other since Keith was a small thing of nine who still couldn't do his sums properly, she'd come to view him as her little brother.

"So," Shiro nudged him as best as he could with both hands on the wheel, a habit that Keith always teased him for. "How's life?"

Keith groaned immediately, "Shiro, no, please."

"Alright, alright." Shiro admitted defeat, laughing nonetheless. "I won't but don't you even think for a second you're getting away from catching up because, I haven't seen you in forever, baby bro!"

Keith made a face at the nickname, as always. "I've told you not to call me that and Shiro, it's been two weeks since I've visited you at your apartment."

"Still too long, little bro!"

Keith sighed, sinking back into the car seat, peering out at the passing buildings. "Ask now or forever hold your peace."

He heard Shiro whisper _yessssssss_ in delight and triumph. Shaking his head, Keith looks away from the scenery and allows his gaze to focus on Shiro, who had a grin on his face and both hands still on the wheel.

"Well?" Keith settles himself into a comfortable spot in his car seat. It's at least six hours drive to Shiro and Allura's apartment and he's now accepted that his only source of entertainment other than the radio is Shiro and his game of 20 Questions.

"Wait, I'm thinking." Shiro scrunched his nose before settling on a question, "Have you burned anymore spaghetti?"

A splash of pink appeared on Keith's ears and cheeks as he countered, "It was one time, Shiro! How was I supposed to know you were supposed to put the water in first?"

Still, a sheepish smile appeared on his face and Keith continued on letting Shiro interrogate him till they reached his and Allura's apartment. Shiro had been relentless, pausing for an hour to let Keith take a nap, but after that he got right back at firing questions. By the time, they pulled up, Keith was feeling way exposed, like an onion that just had its layers peeled away one by one.

The last question came while they were unloading Keith's belongings from the car and lugging them over to the elevator.

"Have you found a special someone yet?"

The words hit him like a blow to the chest, but he managed to hide it well enough. "No, why?"

Shiro patted him on the arm, a duffel bag of Keith's shoes, socks and other nick-knacks clutched in his other fist. "Well, good luck to you. Allura's going to be ecstatic to be playing match-maker."

" _Oh hell no_." The groan dragged from Keith's throat in a such a remorseful sound that it startled Shiro, who looked at Keith like he'd just swallowed roadkill.

"Talk her out of it." Keith pleaded with his brother, who raised an eyebrow and adjusted his grip on the luggage. "Yeah, no can do, Keith. Allura is Allura and if you think anything can get in the way of what she wants, you can-"

"Basically show my own sorry ass down to hell." Keith bit back, frown deepening, "Yeah, I know."

After a beat of silence as the elevator rose another level, Shiro started to say with a low voice, as if Keith was a wild animal and he was trying his best not to scare him away, "Just roll with it. No matter what happens, it's still Allura and you know she won't force you to do something you're uncomfortable with and so won't I. We're just-"

Shiro fiddled with the straps of the bags before continuing. "worried, you know? If you're truly uncomfortable, then just say so. But please, Keith, just consider this. You've gone all these years without anyone-"

"I have been perfectly fine." Keith countered weakly, surveying the buttons on the elevator and realizing the number 1 had almost faded to nothing.

"If you say so." Shiro said, but Keith knew he didn't believe him in the least. "But even if you don't find a date, at least some friends will do. You could use the distraction."

With that, they reached Shiro's floor. Keith nearly tripped in his haste to get out of the claustrophobic space and he glowered at his shoes even more when Shiro stifled a laugh behind him.

He forged on, didn't need directions, he's been here enough to navigate his way around just fine. With each step he took, his bags bumped his shin, each fall so heavy that Keith was sure it would be stained purplish in the next few days.

Once he got to their door however, he waited for Shiro, figuring it was impolite to just barge into someone's home, even if that someone is your brother and his girlfriend that you've known forever and that you were going to be moving in a few minutes.

Shiro opened the door and despite his internal grumbling, the moment Keith stepped foot into the apartment, he felt his chest restrict and fall limp, a sense of home and belonging overcoming him and his body sighed in relief. He had never meant his previous apartment to be a permanent stay, so Keith figured he would just rough it for a while and never spent much time on interior decorating and home comfort.

Needless to say, Allura and Shiro were absolutely aghast when they dropped by and discovered Keith didn't even have a functioning stove and that he had been living off purely cereal and chinese takeout for about three months now. Incidentally, a few days after, his parents contacted him and suggested he move in with the pair.

Damn Shiro and his brotherly senses.

Where Keith's old apartment lacked in character and a homely feeling, Shiro and Allura's practically screamed domesticity with everything color coded, bright light streaming from the windows (Keith never opened his, the sound of traffic made him want to pull his hair out.) and the cherry on the cake were the fluffy pillows with the word _Home_ embroidered on them.

Shiro had mumbled something about the soft white and pale blue cushions being Allura's idea but little did he know that Keith had heard from the woman herself that Shiro himself had insisted on getting them on a trip to the department store.

Needless to say, Keith had a secret grin fest every time he saw those pillows.

He just looking at them when a pair of arms enveloped him in a warm hug. "Keith, you're here!"

Keith let his bag drop down to the floor in favor of wrapping his own arms around Allura, who had her long silver hair wrapped up in a bun on the top of her head. He'd never felt much for physical affection but still he had gotten used to Allura's constant hugs, so he felt a little more comfortable about doing the same with her.

"Hey, Allura." He mumbled into her embrace before she let him go. "Thanks for letting me stay here."

Allura waved a hand around dismissively, "As if I was going to let you live in that rat's nest for another week. No, you are always welcome here, Keith, even more so now that you're an official part of it."

The warm feeling took over Keith's chest again.

"I assume I'll be having the guestroom?" He asked, leaning down to pick up the bags he dropped earlier on.

"Yup, the one just down the hall there." Allura pointed a finger but Keith already knew the way and waved a hand to her before going in search of his room. Shiro stopped to chat with her a while, probably last minute arrangements regarding Keith's arrival.

He found the guestroom and twisted the knob with three fingers (his other ones were busy grappling the bags.) and a whole lot of patience. Finally, he had it open and pushed his way in. It was simple but in such a nice way that Keith didn't feel like the word gave it justice.

One whole wall was full windows from floor to ceiling, looking out into a busy city skyline. Shiro and Allura lived high enough that the noise of the bustling street down below didn't reach them so Keith tossed the bags down on the bed and moved to unlatch them.

The second he threw them open, a breeze flew into the room and caressed anything that relented to flowing with itc. The bed was comfy-looking, white sheets and fluffy pillows. A desk and wardrobe stood in the corners and Keith spotted the vase that he had gifted the couple as a house-warming gift when they first moved in on the desk surface.

It was filled with lavender and the pleasant smell tickled Keith's nose.

There wasn't an en suite but the bathroom was close enough so he didn't mind. Keith stumbled over to his bed and, pushing the bags aside and ignoring one that tipped down to the floor, he laid down.

So this was his new life.

A knock came from the door and Keith snapped his attention to it. As expected, Shiro was there with his one suitcase that contained all his clothes. The older man gazed at him, "You like it?"

Keith figured he was referring to the room and nodded, "Yeah, it's better than my old one for sure."

Shiro scoffed, "No offense, Keith but Allura was right when she called it a rat hole. Anything would be better after not having a stove and a creaky as heck bed for one year."

Keith made no comment. Thankfully, a soft meow drew both the brothers' attention to the door. This time, a white floofy cat stood there, long furry tail flicking in the air in curiosity at the commotion.

"Hey, Snowball." Shiro gave it a little wave and the cat, Snowball took it as a incentive to venture further into the room. She leaped gracefully onto the bed and settled next to Keith, furry tail tickling Keith's face. A smile forming on his face, Keith reach out and ran his fingers across the cat's soft fur.

"Allura's been babying her." Shiro said with a hint of bitterness as he stared coolly at Keith stroking Snowball. He placed the suitcase near the dresser before leaning back on it, crossing his arms.

Keith blew a laugh through his nose, "You're just afraid of being replaced." Shiro glared at him before letting his face fall back into neutrality and pushing himself back from the dresser to leave the room.

"You'd better settle in soon." Jerking a nod at the various bags scattered around the place, Shiro advised Keith, who only nodded and murmured a soft _mmkay_ , because he was too concentrated on Snowball who was purring due to his soft administrations on her tummy.

Shiro took a few steps out of sight before popping his head back in again, "No, Keith, seriously, I mean it. Allura's gonna be dragging the both of us out in a few hours' time."

Keith suppressed a groan of objection when Shiro ducked once again out of sight. Rolling over carefully as to not disturb the cat beside him, Keith hugged a pillow close to his chest. As much as he loved Allura to death, she was still a little bit too much of a social butterfly in his opinion.

However, he still managed to peel himself from the bed in order to put a few items away, including all his clothes (they were a bit wrinkled from being clumsily tossed inside.), books from his courses, toiletries and some other personal stuff that he positioned all over the room, making it officially his own.

"What do you think, Snowball?" Keith asked the cat still on his bed, who opened one blue eye to gaze at him lazily. "Feels more like home after adding a few me touches, wouldn't you say?"

She purred.

Keith let his eyes drift to a lower position, a feat he often did while drifting into his own thoughts, "We can only hope it stays feeling that way."

He didn't have much time to himself after that, since Allura kicked his door open just half an hour later. He'd barely had enough time to pull on a decent-looking not too wrinkly red jacket on before she dragged him out the door.

As they stood in the elevator together, Keith couldn't help but feel severely under dressed next to Allura, who was bouncing happily on the balls of her feet, clucking impatiently at the slow descend of the numbers on the illuminated screen next to the doors.

She was wearing a simple dress with sleeves and a pair of tights underneath. Her usual earrings swung gently with her motions, her hair loose down her back. Honestly, Keith knew this was one of her more casual get-ups, which made him feel worse as he twiddled self-consciously with the hem of his jacket.

Even Shiro looked nice enough, with a wrinkle-free blazer and a shirt underneath. He had his phone up, tapping at it with a shine in his eyes. Keith felt a start of suspicion, because whenever Shiro glanced at him like that, oh so fleetingly and gleefully, he knew it never bode well for him. He didn't have time to act on those feelings before the elevator reached its stop and they scrambled out, Allura making her way to the car first.

Allura sat in the front seat, while Shiro in the driver's, which left Keith to sit in the back. Annoyingly, he felt like a kid again and matters didn't improve when Allura called back at him, "Seatbelt, Keith!"

The whole ride was already overwhelmed with sound by the chatter in the front seats and the soft murmur of the radio, so Keith felt no need for him to step into the conversation. Until a thought stuck him.

"Hey." He squeezed into the small space between the car seats in front of him, his knees awkwardly bent and the position biting into his shoulders. "Would you two mind telling me where it is we're even headed?"

Even in the occasional light of the passing streetlights, Keith didn't miss the knowing look Shiro and Allura exchanged, which only worked up his feelings of suspicion even more and caused him to wriggle even more to be able to look them in the eye.

"Well?"

"Well," Allura repeated, drawing the syllable out as long as she could, "We figured to welcome you back into this part of the city again."

"Yeah?" Keith prompted, eyebrow raised when she paused.

"We'd have a little celebration." Shiro clarified, eyes stuck on the road before them. "In that cafe that you used to like?"

"You mean-" Keith gasped, "Wait, Cafe Altea?"

Allura and Shiro let out tinkling laughter, as Keith gaped at them both. "No way."

"We've invited a few other people too, if you don't mind." Allura winked back at him as he settled back into his back seat. Surprising thing was that Keith didn't actually mind that much, he was just excited to see what used to be his favorite place in the world again. A glaze came over his violet eyes as he reminisced on past days and all the memories he'd made there.

All with people that try as he may to get them to, never really left his mind, even after he'd moved a few cities away, in the assumption that if they weren't going to let them go, he'd be the first to sever ties, ones he swore to cherish forever.

 _How time changes things_ , he thought bitterly as a flash of the streetlights outside illuminated his red jacket for two seconds before plunging it back into darkness.

Still, the giddy lightness remained as he counted each and every second till they pulled up in front of an all-too-familiar row of shops. Keith all but fell his way out of the car to take it all in. The street was alight with the shine little multicoloured lanterns provided and as Keith ran his eager eyes through everything, he realized nothing much has changed. A flower shop still stood at the very end of the row of shophouses, followed by Balmerian Bakery and a ton of other places that he used to be a regular customer to.

Right in the middle was the quaint and neat-looking cafe with the light up words Cafe Altea written on its signboard.

Keith found himself prickling with anticipation as he waited for Allura and Shiro to get out of the car in a more respectful manner compared to his barrelling out a few seconds ago. Together, they strode across the street to the cafe, Keith's steps noticably more bouncier, but he's too excited to care.

Before he could reach for the door handle though, Shiro lurches forwards abruptly and takes hold of it instead, a small lopsided smile on his face, "After you, Keith. Welcome home." With that, he pulls the doors open and though he didn't think it possible, Keith's jaw dropped and another wave of emotions washes over him like the sea over the sand.

It was just as he remembered. Exposed brick walls and all kinds of vintage deco cover almost the entire surface. Everywhere he looked, there were records, black and white pictures of well-beloved musicians and here and there, a glossy guitar or two secured to the walls.

The tables were the same wooden texture and the chairs were the familiar modern black kinds you'd find in a loft. Soft lighting brought the atmosphere together, as did the mumbling chatter of customers and the soft tinkling sound of music playing somewhere in the vicinity.

Keith stood there for a few long seconds, letting his gaze rest on everything he could possibly take in, while Shiro closed the door behind them, a familiar chime signaling the arrival of new customers ringing throughout the entire place.

"Keith!" A high-pitched squeal struck Keith out of his stupor and a slam in the gut left him gasping for breath as small hands squeezed his torso tightly and a little painfully.

Wait, that copper hair-

"P-Pidge?" He sputtered out, looking down disbelievingly at the mass of small human currently smashed into his chest.

"Oh my God, you're here!" Pidge pulled away slightly, arms still around Keith, who gazed at her uncertainly, "You're really here!" She buried her face back into her hoodie and Keith, still a bit dazed, let his own arms embrace the young girl too, albeit a bit hesitantly. "Yeah, I'm back."

She pulled away again at the sound of his voice. "What're you doing here?"

A hand landed on his shoulder and he turned to see Allura smiling softly at him with kind eyes, "We thought you could use a little cheering up. I saw to it myself that everyone came, not that it took much to convince them. All I had to do was mention your name and they agreed straightaway."

Keith gaped slightly, "Wait, _everyone_?"

"Keith, my boy!" A man's squeal isn't something Keith thought would ever make him a little emotional but the Universe just loves proving him dead on wrong, huh?

"Hi, Coran." He said softly, as Pidge detached herself from him in order to give the older ginger man a turn to hug Keith. The hug lasted longer than it should and when Keith pulled away, he could still feel the warmth through his jacket. "It's nice to have you back. You've got to find some time to tell me what you've been doing all this while you've been away."

Keith promised he would before getting swept up in a hug so fierce and sudden that he found himself hovering a few inches off the ground.

"Keith." A mournful groan reached his ears and after a second of recalling, he said unsteadily, "Hunk?"

"Keith, I've missed you so much, buddy!" The Samoan boy wailed, rocking Keith in his bone-crushing hug. "Never leave us again!"

"Hunk, wait, put me down first. I promise I won't." Keith managed to squeeze the last bit of air in his lungs to form a plea. Thankfully, Hunk carefully set him down on his own two feet after that. After three big gulps of air, Keith sensed that the big guy hadn't had enough to reassure him fully that he was there and so he motioned for him to hug him again.

"Wow, when Allura and Shiro said everyone, I didn't think they'd actually mean everyone." He murmured with a smile on his face as he gazed at his old friends, all who had smiles so big on their faces that Keith didn't think that their cheeks couldn't been hurting.

In the soft ambience, he took a few moments to take them all in.

Pidge, bless her soul, still sported her spikey caramel copper hair. After Keith's closer observation, he realized she must've cut it even shorter than when they first met, which was a short bob. Now, she looked almost boyish but her eyes were still the same. Framed with the glasses Keith helped her patch up with scotch tape once, they glinted with a shine that seemed much too glossy and watery as they kept their gaze on Keith like the person they belonged to couldn't believe he was standing there.

If Pidge's soul was to blessed, Hunk's was to be showered in heavenly light and rose petals because he couldn't stop wiping discreetly at the corners of his eyes and sniffing, which made Keith want to sniffle too. He refrained though just barely. A bandanna kept his bangs out of his face and a few necklaces hung from his neck, a lot of them blue and red in color.

Coran, though a few more wrinkles had invaded his cheery face since the last time Keith had seen him, stood as proud and straight as ever. His mustache was the same and unchanged in all its twirly glory. Keith felt his knees go weak as he felt Coran's gaze on him. A fatherly kind of warmth crowded in his irises and Keith didn't need to squint to see the little bubbles of water in the crinkles of his eyes.

Oh God, he thought as his eyes became moist. There was no way he was crying, not now, not-

His thoughts were interrupted when a smooth as silk voice carried from one end of the cafe to the other, where they stood. "Well, well. Leaving me out of the reunion, I see. Some friends you guys are."

Keith hasn't heard that voice ever in his life, but that's because the last time he's heard it, it was a ripoff, scratchy and squeaky with pubescent development. Now, he was hearing the real deal. Not as squeaky but still slightly higher-pitched than his own, but still managing to sound so deep and rumbling in its undertones. It had sarcasm laced in every syllable, but Keith could hear the endearing fondness behind its taunting facade. It was the kind of voice that one second could sound like thunder, loud, booming and unforgiving; and the next second it would be soft, purring and melodious on a level that mere voices shouldn't be able to achieve.

The people in front of him parted for the voice, it was that alluring. As Keith gazed down the path, he saw it belonged to a man. Soft brown locks cut short but still a few stray curls rested on his forehead, the tanned skin contrasting with the darker brown of his hair. Eyes electric blue that Keith thinks resembles the sea but then thinks of space and yeah, his eyes were the color of space now. Tall and lanky frame that moved so fluidly as he closed the distance between them. The smile etched on his face caused Keith's to falter because he wasn't sure if he wanted to punch it right off or hold him in place so that he could gaze at it unabashedly for a minute. Or maybe a day. Actually, a whole week sounded better.

The same smile didn't even shy away as he stood right in front of Keith, who hoped sincerely that his thoughts didn't show in his face because then he'd be in trouble.

"Keith." He murmured, soft voice reaching said boy's ears just fine.

"Lance." Keith thanked the god above that his voice didn't waver in the slightest, coming out only slightly out of breath.

The obnoxiously loud grin toned itself down into a smaller twitch upwards of his lips. "Welcome home, buddy."

Just like that, he was pulled back into a group hug that left him feeling as if maybe he hasn't felt happiness at all all those years alone, but now he's feeling all that he ever could. He keeps it inside, letting it show only with a unfiltered and pure laugh that poured out of his lungs like a waterfall.

 

 


	3. chapter three; of morning conversations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Who is it?" He asked in a gravelly voice, like he'd just gotten out of bed a few minutes ago. Lance swallowed and Jesus, this boy was going to be the end of him.
> 
> "Uh, Lance?" He said, pointing to himself and waggling his eyebrows. "I'm here because you ordered a smoking hot dude with a devilishly handsome smile a few days ago?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another chapter up! thanks for all the love, lovelies and enjoy <3333

 

_"Hey. Wanna hear a joke?" Keith stiffened for a second as Lance popped his head up directly in his line of vision. He calmed down soon enough, before looking at the homework he was supposed to be doing. Figuring he'd be able to multitask, he nodded, muttering, "Sure."_

_"Okay, okay." Lance bounced up and down, very obviously excited. "So this couple went skydiving and the one guy wanted to ask his partner to marry him. So when they went down together, he asked his partner-" Lance than stopped and then switched his voice to mimic one of yelling, only much softer than actual yelling. "Will you marry me?"_

_He grinned and said to Keith in his normal voice, "You wanna know happened? Because of the wind being too loud, his partner didn't hear him properly. Guess what they heard?"_

_Keith shrugged, Lance taking it as permission to continue._

_"You have a hairy knee!" Lance spread his arms wide and a full-blown smile lit up his face and Keith couldn't help but laugh softly at the absolute trash of the joke he'd just been told._

_He said so and Lance scoffed indignantly, "You haven't even heard of the times the guy tried to propose again."_

_Keith giggled, pushing his homework to the side and propping his chin up on his hands. "Well? Go on, what happened then?"_

_"Well, he tried again but the wind was still too loud and so his partner thought it was, "You smell like peas!"_

_Needless to say, Keith spent the next hour listening to Lance's endless chatter, dissolving into uncontrollable giggles every time he cracked another joke, homework long forgotten._

 

\------

 

Keith wakes up the next morning, scrambled to his feet in seconds because _Jesus Christ, where in the world was he?_

Then a few seconds of complete stillness passed as everything flowed back to him and even then he has to take a couple more just for it all to sink in. He falls back into the pillows, not even trying to catch up on his abruptly interrupted beauty sleep, but instead stared up and in the criss-cross of the patterns etched into the ceiling, he saw a mind-map of the recent events begin to form.

He'd moved out of his old apartment a few cities away on his parents' insistence yesterday. Shiro had come to pick him up and they'd spent a good few hours of brotherly bonding in the car and on the road. Allura had welcomed him with open arms and pointed him to his room. He, Shiro and Snowball had had a nice chit-chat then Keith unpacked everything. Well, most of his stuff anyway.

Then came the most unbelievable part. Even after hours of allowing himself to sleep it off, Keith still couldn't totally wrap his head around it, around the fact that he was back home, around the fact that he was back with his friends and that they seemed to miss him, almost as much as he had missed every single one of them all that time he'd been away. He had known ever since agreeing (very much begrudgingly) to moving to Shiro and Allura's that he was bound to run into at least one of them sooner or later. As much as he'd like to deny it, the world was as small a place as a goldfish bowl at times, especially when all you want is for it to be a wide stretch of never-ending ocean.

Either that or Shiro and/or Allura would set him up somehow, which was exactly what they did yesterday night. Keith scoffed lightly. If he hadn't been blindsided by the excitement of being back in his most favorite place in the entire world, he would have been able to see through their thinly veiled masterplan at once.

Alas, he had been and as a result didn't but somehow, Keith couldn't really bring himself to regret any of it.

He'd come back expecting disappointment. For Pidge to drag her sharp claws into him, tell him he was a coward with utmost disdain. For Hunk to feel betrayed, brush him off and not be able to meet his eyes. For Coran to be able to look him in the eyes, sure, but only with the deepest regret and condescension. For Lance to never face him directly with that smile that was so bright, so understanding, so fond ever again. All this and more, Keith had been harboring in the deepest part of his mind all those years he had been alone and every time the ugly thoughts reared their head, Keith felt a coil of deep emotion swirl in his gut.

The coil was sickening; fear, guilt, anger, histeria and sadness compressed into a chunk of rock that settled heavily in Keith's stomach like it would a pond.

He had come home thinking he'd lost everything.

But then all it took was a hug to knock the breath clear out of his lungs and everything after that to assure Keith that he hadn't lost anything at all, nothing at all.

Dinner had gone well enough, no one asked Keith about his leaving. No questions about why he'd left, no inquires to why he'd ignored their texts and calls for a month straight before telling them he was fine and that he needed to be alone and then never getting back to them since. It was as if he'd never left in the first place. He appreciated it and loved the others endlessly for their patience.

As the night stretched on, they'd flowed back into place as naturally as water. Soon, everyone was laughing and joking and Keith was laughing so much his cheeks hurt. Then, Shiro had insisted on a toast and Coran ordered a round of hot chocolate for all of them. With the sweet aroma of sweetened cocoa and fluffy marshmallows bobbing dangerously in all their mugs, they'd celebrated Keith's return.

The waterworks began then, starting with Hunk who didn't seem to mind the great big fat tears of salt flowing into his hot chocolate. That set off Pidge who hid her tears in Keith's jacket, snuggling up close to him as he held her to him like you would a tiny sad kitten. Coran excused himself from blowing into his handkerchief far too many times for it to be humanly acceptable in a span of five minutes. Shiro and Allura looked at him with a mixture of relief, pride and happiness.

And Lance...

He'd caught his eye for only a split-second before having to attend to Pidge buried in his jacket but that little while was all it took.

The emotions that ran through his blue eyes were agonizingly quick, so contradicting that Keith couldn't be sure he'd caught them all. For that moment in time, Lance's lips weren't quirked up in a smile. They tilted downwards in a grimace of worry and Keith decides he doesn't like the way frowning looks on Lance. It makes him look broken and Keith is hit with the realization that he had caused that pain and worry, he had made that broken look carve its ugly way onto Lance's smiling face and it makes him double over in guilt.

The next second, the smile is back on Lance's face and with such speed that Keith isn't too sure then if he had been mistaken but now he's sure of it. The tears and the grimaces were proof enough. He had hurt his friends when he left and walked out on them, out of their lives. Now, he's back and sprawled out on his bed like a starfish, Keith makes an oath that he'd find a way to make it up to them, to all of them personally before he lets himself truly accept his place back in the world he'd left and now aches to slot back into.

He's just started to think of what exactly to do when a thud from his door caught his attention. He sat up and sees Snowball wriggle her way through the gap in the door. 

"Hello." He said to the cat. Another thud came from the doorway and this time the door swung the whole way open to reveal Allura, her hair loose and her t-shirt crinkled. It looked to Keith like she'd just woken up too and his theory is proven correct when she lets out a yawn and rubs her eyes.

"Snowball!" Allura groaned and wagged her finger at the cat, who didn't seem to care much as she jumped up onto Keith's bed. "Bad kitty, you can't just go stalking into people's rooms early in the morning."

"No, it's okay." Keith assured her, feeling Snowball's fluffy tail skim over his palm. "I don't mind the company."

Allura looked skeptical, "Wait till she sheds, you'll be minding very much then when everything you own gets covered in cat fur." She made a face, sticking her tongue out. "She absolutely ruined my jacket that one time."

She let out another yawn then and Keith chuckled at her droopy form. Glaring at him halfheartedly, Allura stumbled into the room and fell onto his bed, narrowly missing his toes but because it was a huge bed, she managed to fit herself without touching Keith.

"Shiro snoring again?" 

"Usually, that's the case, yes. But not this time. He's gone off early for his morning run. It's kind of our little morning routine together but I'm sitting this time out, had a little too much hot chocolate to drink last night, maybe."

"Well, you did have what- three cups of it?" Keith snorted, tossing a pillow at Allura, carefully not to rock Snowball.

"True." Allura said sleepily, cuddling the pillow Keith had thrown at her close to her chest and curling herself up. There was a pause where Keith fidgeted with his fingers, opening and closing his mouth as if he wasn't sure if he should say what was on his mind.

"Whatever you want to say, quickly do it before I start falling asleep." Allura deadpanned, making Keith jump and accidentally swat Snowball, who meowed indignantly and hopped off the bed. Keith's gaze followed the cat out of the room. "How'd you-?"

"You and Shiro both have this face when you want to say something. It's like your _Help I'm too afraid to say this so give me a push so I wouldn't have to suffer silently_ kind of look." Allura explained, waving her hand around dismissively, dark skin contrasting with the whiteness of the soft sheets. "I've given you that push, so you can say what you want to say now."

Keith pursed his lips together before taking a breath, "About last night..."

"Hmm?" Allura hummed, prompt to get him to continue muffled as she tucked herself tighter around the pillow, moving it from under her chin to cover her mouth.

"I just wanted to thank you." Keith blurted, the words flowing out now like a stream of water he couldn't stop even if he wanted to. "For bringing me to Altea, for getting everyone there to see me, for that piece of chicken you stole from Shiro's plate to give me."

At this, Allura snorted loudly into her pillow. 

Keith smiled, but his fingers still danced nervously around each other. "But most of all, thank you for letting me come back here. I honestly don't know how you do it, because you must hate me after everything I did and I'm sorry if I worried you before, it wasn't what I wanted to do, I promise. I just needed space after all that and-"

"Keith." Allura's voice wasn't muffled this time, coming out soft but firm. Keith felt warm hands wrap around his wrists and looked up at Allura. She was looking at him imploringly and a little exasperatedly.

"Shiro said you'd be beating yourself up over that incident." She shook her head at him, stray silver curls falling into her face as she did. 

"He said so, huh?" Keith frowned, but it wasn't because he was upset. 

"Yes. He also said that it was your method to cope with pain." Allura sighed sadly and Keith didn't know why, but he felt a sliver of guilt. "Well, I can't say I approve of it because beating yourself up doesn't lead to anywhere, Keith. It only generates _more_ pain."

Keith scoffed lightly, staring at where Allura's hands held his wrists, marveling at the difference in darkness and light. Her skin was a dark cocoa kind of deal, while his were pale, white as porcelain.

"You sound like Coran."

Allura shrugged, "Maybe because he felt the need to give me the same advice too once a long time ago." Keith lifted his gaze to look at her, brow furrowed and she nodded, soft smile gracing her lips.

"So take my advice now, Keith and may it ring true so that you learn. Don't beat yourself up over your mistakes. Instead, learn and rebuild what you've lost. That's the only way to move on."

Keith swallowed thickly. He didn't know what Allura had been like or had done before to have had Coran tell her the same things she was telling him herself now, but he wondered if she'd been in a similar position he was in and if she had been, how brave she must've been to rebuild her life from shambles.

Because if Keith were to follow what she's telling him to do, it would mean a lot of things would change. No more running away, from problems and feelings alike. No more shutting himself out, instead throwing the windows wide open and screaming his lungs out for help because that's what he really needed before, wasn't it? An outlet, a person to turn to. No more playing lone wolf and bottling his feelings inside, because the last time he did that, it only resulted in his agony spreading, which was exactly what he had been afraid of in the first place.

It all meant leaving his heart wide open and his whole soul out for the taking; and Keith was terrified of that.

"You don't have to change overnight, of course." Allura's assuring voice continued. "That kind of messy, messy work takes time. So just remember,"

She drew his hands to in front of her chin and squeezed them each time she wants him to listen closely. "When it comes to it, do the right thing, the brave thing even when you're scared to death. When it comes to it, just do the _Keith_ thing. I know you have it in you to be"

"Also, hammer this into your head, _I will never hate you_. I understand you had to do what you did. You took time to heal, to prepare yourself for rebuilding what you lost. You're ready now and so it's time to start doing just that."

Keith stays silent for a while after that, letting his mind soak in every every uttered from Allura's mouth and finally shakes his head.

"You're just gonna keep telling me things like this so that in the end you'll be right and then insist later on that I owe you a favor, aren't you?" Keith raised an eyebrow and laughed breathlessly.

"You know it." Allura laughed back before letting go of his hands and flopping back onto the mattress and retrieving her pillow. "Can I crash here? I can't bear the idea of moving."

"Yeah, sure." Keith shrugged, peeling the blankets off and setting his bare feet onto the cold wood floor. He stood up, the soles of his feet now fully in contact with the ground and he hissed slightly as the cold seeped into his bones. "Consider it repayment for letting me crash at your home."

Allura peeked out at him from the layers of blankets she's managed to pile on herself without Keith noticing. "Yeah, right. You're not getting off the hook that easily." She squinted at him warningly as she retreated back into her blanket burrito and Keith huffed laughingly as he padded his way out the door and down the hallway into the living room.

Snowball was there and she got up as soon as Keith came to her. "Sorry for hitting you just now. Didn't mean it." He muttered, stroking the cat and she purred, letting him know he was forgiven.

The curtains were already drawn, the light streaming in from the outside world into the white room. Keith noticed a few things as he walked over to the counter in the kitchen. Shiro's running shoes were gone from the shoe rack, the pillows were smushed like someone had been sitting on them recently and two steaming mugs stood on the kitchen counter.

As he neared them, the sharp aroma of coffee hit Keith's nostrils and as he curled his icy fingers around the mug thankfully, sniffed a huge whiff of it in. He left the other mug there, knowing that it was for Allura but doubting she'd be getting up to drink it still warm.

Backtracing his steps, he went back to the living room and was just about to nudge Snowball out of hogging the middle of the sofa when a knock came from the door. Keith paused a while. That wasn't Shiro, was it? Of course not, he had keys and plus what kind of person knocks on his own door?

Keith still hadn't moved, not really wanting to interact with any other person except for Allura and Shiro this early in the morning. The knocks came again, more insistent this time.

Keith looked down at Snowball, who still had yet to let Keith have a seat on the sofa. "I should probably answer that, huh?" All he got was a responding meow as the knocks came again, though this time round they were more like pounds than knocks.

Keith sighed before hurrying over, not wanting whoever was outside to wake Allura up from her hot chocolate induced coma with their ear-splitting pounding.

Keith shoved the door open, eyebrows bunching together as he asked, "Who is it?"

 

-

 

Lance didn't know why he was at Shiro and Allura's at _seven in the morning_ , clutching a hot pink cosmetics bag with blue accents in his hands and bundled up in a jacket that Hunk had bought for him that one birthday. Speaking of his housemate, he and Pidge had stared him at him quite suspiciously when he had muttered something about going to Allura's to return something of hers.

Which was true. He was most definitely going to their house just to return the facial products she'd lent him and definitely no going because he overheard a certain black-haired friend of his was staying over at their place.

No, definitely not.

Who was he kidding? Lance ran a hand through his short hair, feeling the soft tendrils wave through his fingers easily. Speaking of hair, he couldn't help but recall Keith's hair. He had had a shock the night before when he'd caught sight of the guy at first, didn't recognize him almost. When they were younger, Lance was the one with the too long hair, bangs always getting in the way of his eyes and Allura or Pidge clipping it back with a bobby pin they found on their person.

He'd gotten rid of it, sure and he likes to think he looks much better without the mop on his head. Keith on the other hand, had had the shortest hair out of all Lance's friends, a buzzcut that Lance always teased to be like a prickly beard.

He didn't think that every haircut he's had since he last saw Keith, the guy had somehow grown the amount Lance had gotten cut off. His hair was long, but it didn't look greasy like Lance's had been a long time ago. (A time he'd like to forget actually.)

Instead, it looked soft and silky and made Lance want to run his hands through it and coo at him about his stupid soft baby hair. Only problem was that it was so long, it was practically a mullet.

Who even has mullets anymore? Do barbershops even provide their services to that extent? Do you just ask them for a mullet and maybe pull out a picture of David Bowie or two for good measure? Lance doesn't know.

What he does know however is that, even if the hairstyle was horrendous and should be burnt, it suited Keith to a T. Or an M for mullet. Whatever.

Point was, Keith looked good with it.

Which was dumb. Lance figured it was totally unfair for him to come back from God knows where just to be pretty and hot and overall stupidly perfect in Lance's face. He won't stand for it, he swore as he made to knock on the door.

It was just too bad that Keith just had to answer the door in his pyjamas. Needless to say, Lance lost his voice for a second because _oh Lord Almighty, he was adorable in those Pokemon pyjama pants._

Almost adorable enough for Lance to skim over the annoyed scowl on his face.

"Who is it?" He asked in a gravelly voice, like he'd just gotten out of bed a few minutes ago. Lance swallowed and Jesus, this boy was going to be the end of him.

"Uh, Lance?" He said, pointing to himself and waggling his eyebrows. "I'm here because you ordered a smoking hot dude with a devilishly handsome smile a few days ago?"

Keith looked mildly amused, but still annoyed. Lance counted it as a win. "I wasn't even here a few days ago, Lance." He crossed his arms and cocked a hip, looking at him with a deadpan look and raised eyebrows.

"Huh, must've been Shiro or Allura then." Lance winked at him, trademark devilishly handsome smile plastered on his face, "Speaking of the babe, where is she? I need to return something to her."

"Sleeping off the hot chocolate from last night." Keith shrugged and Lance watched his eyes lock on the cosmetics bag in his hands. "Is that makeup?"

His question is halting and hesitant. "Why would you have Allura's makeup?" He raised his eyes back up again to meet Lance's and widened them expectantly.

_Again_ , Lance thought, _Adorable_.

"Keithy boy, I'll have you know that if you're using that tone because you assume I wouldn't have a use for makeup, then you are gravely mistaken. I look hella killer in red hot lipstick and smokey eyes. Secondly, no, this is sadly not makeup, just some cleansers and soap and stuff like that."

He said it all in one breath and watched Keith's eyebrows slouch into a resigned frown, though he could tell he was also a little impressed by the way his lips fell open.

"Speechless?" Lance suggested, cocking a brow. Keith snapped his mouth closed immediately, shaking his head. "No, just forgotten how talkative you are."

"Rude." Lance said, splaying his fingers across his chest and mimicking a profoundly hurt look. "Remind me to tell Shiro to teach you manners, mullet."

"If you do, I'll tell Allura to not borrow you these anymore." Keith said simply, jerking his head to the bag Lance had thrown at him. He'd caught it deftly and the contents inside jostled noisily. At the threat, Lance squawked indignantly.

"You wouldn't dare." He hissed. Keith didn't miss a single beat, swinging the cosmetics bag by a finger and the corner of his mouth lifted up into a challenging smirk.

"Oh, I so would." He taunted back, hand raising to rest on his hip. Lance stepped closer, getting all in Keith's personal space. If he'd remember anything from when they were friends back in school, it was that Keith hated anyone getting into an arm's worth of space of his only-Keith-allowed bubble.

True enough, Keith visibly flinched and leaned backwards but still not stepping away. Well then. Color Lance impressed.

"And if I show you up?" Lance gave him a smirk right back, mustering as much cheek as he could into that little quirk of his lip. "What then?"

"I'll have to kill you." Keith said right away, didn't even need to think about it, didn't even pause.

Lance felt his chest tighten and he burst out laughing. Keith laughed too, a crystal clear sound that vibrates his whole body. Lance staggered back, a hand on his stomach. "Man."

He wiped away an imaginary tear, soaking in the happy smile Keith gives him.

"Man, have I missed you." The words escaped before he thinks them through and suddenly when his brain catches up, he blanks out.

Luckily, Keith looks as taken back as he feels and Lance moves to apologize. Keith beats him to the chase and the words that leave his lips then will haunt Lance endlessly as he struggles to sleep that night.

"I've missed you too. It's good to have my ninja sharpshooter back." Keith gives him one last last blinding smile before a voice Lance registers to be Allura calling out for him. Keith tosses a look back into the apartment before waving Lance goodbye hurriedly, promising to tell Allura he's returned the facial products.

His typical goofy goodbye complete with fingerguns runs completely on autopilot and he barely has time to stuff in an actual proper wave goodbye before the door shuts and he's left wondering _what the hell just happened_.

 

-

 

9:30 p.m. Thursday

**Keef** : Lance.

**bby_bi_bi_bi** : OMG hiiiii keithhhhhh

**Keef** : Don't you even start.

**bby_bi_bi_bi** : oh

**bby_bi_bi_bi** : this is about that thing isnt it

**Keef** : Care to explain why Shiro returned home with flashcards with please and thank you and excuse me on them?

**bby_bi_bi_bi** : hes adopting a child???????

**Keef** : You're dead to me.

**bby_bi_bi_bi** : you know you love meeee

**Keef** : .....

**Keef** : After that stunt you pulled? Never.

**bby_bi_bi_bi** : :((((((

**bby_bi_bi_bi** : so you admit you loved me before ;))))

**Keef** : Bye Lance.

**bby_bi_bi_bi** : real cold keith youre as cold as my arms now becoz the ac is blasting and hunk doesnt wanna turn it off but byeeeeeeeee

 

 


	4. chapter four; of pigdeons and cafes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You-" Keith stared open-mouthed at the drink in Pidge's other hand, wrapped in a small plastic bag and the straw still new and unbitten beside it. "You got me a drink?"
> 
> "No, I got you kerosene." Pidge rolled her eyes, before jerking the bag closer to Keith's face. "Of course it's a drink, dummy. Now take it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tysm for the love, guys! i sometimes update this story at school and i can say without a doubt that every single hit i see thats increased makes my freaking day and night becoz you guy are my sun and moon and clouds and stars and whole world <3333 Enjoy!

  
12:30 a.m. Friday

 **Pidgeon** : hey keith

 **Keef** : Yeah?

 **Pidgeon** : you got anything up rn

 **Keef** : No?

 **Keef** : Why?

 **Pidgeon** : im bored and in the mood for bagging free stuff wanna go to the workplaces with me

 **Keef** : What?

 **Keef** : Workplaces?

 **Pidgeon** : 1 oclock sharp it is meet you here

**_Pidgeon sent a image._ **

**Keef** : You're taking me to Altea again?

 **Pidgeon** : no spilling the beans dont be late 

**Pidgeon** : see ya thr

 **Keef** : See you.  
  
  


-  
  
  


One o'clock found Keith standing under a tree, finger idly swiping across his phone screen as he waited for Pidge to show up. Just as he was about to text her that she was late, a wild Pidgeon appeared in front of him.

"You text with full capitalization and punctuation?"

Keith squinted at her strangely, "Well, hello to you too, Pidge."

"Hi, Keith." Pidge rolled her eyes, drawing out every syllable as she did. "But seriously, who even does that anymore?"

"Shiro does!" Keith said instantly, footsteps falling in with Pidge's as they started walking down the street together.

"Shiro is a dad, Keith." Pidge pointed out and Keith opened his mouth to argue when he realized that there wasn't anything to argue. In all aspects of his person, Shiro was most definitely, hundred percent, without a doubt, a dad.

"Shut your mouth before you catch flies." Pidge's voice had an unmistakable smirking edge to it that Keith glowered at her for. "I hate you."

"I'm touched." Pidge gave a loud guffaw of delight as she sauntered on faster, moving past Keith. "But no matter, your "hatred" be remedied in record time when you find out what I've got in store for you." Keith scowled, apparently he'd forgotten how eloquent Pidge was in the art of very obvious in-conversation quotation marks and how she absolutely adored to use mentioned-beforehand skill on him.

"Should I be afraid?"

"If you're still as crazily lactose intolerant as you were five years ago, then yes, very much so."

"I'm trembling in my boots."

As they exchanged endless banter, Keith took his time in admiring the handful of flowering plants placed in front of every doorway of every shop. At night, the row was all color lights, soft EDM tracks and the noise of people getting dinner or partying the night away. In the light of day, Keith saw, it was quite a different atmosphere.

The bushes were overflowing with blossoms and the occasional soft breeze sent flowery fragrances into every nook and cranny. Sunlight splashed across the sidewalk and people bustled around, going on with their normal day to day activities. Keith sighed in soft comfort as the sun's rays sunk into his skin and making him feel warm inside out.

"Where to?" He asked Pidge who picked at her long sleeves with a dissatisfied expression. 

"I knew I should've worn something shorter. It's too damn hot for long sleeves." She lamented quietly before shrugging it off and facing Keith. "First thing, to Cafe Altea."

"Ha! So you are taking me there!"

"Any more excitement and you'll burst, Keith. Careful." Pidge said dryly before lunging forwards in a brisk walk. Still, Keith didn't miss the small quirk upwards of her lips as she motioned for him to follow.  
  
  


-  
  
  


Lance liked Cafe Altea. He kinda had to, considering the fact he worked there as a waiter. Hunk was a coworker, though usually stationed between the counter as a sort of barista while Lance weaved in and out of the rows of tables. He was skilled enough now to not drop a chocolate mousse on anyone's head, even if sometimes it takes his entire supply of patience and concentration to not do so.

Especially during rush hours. Ah, the horrors of waitering.

Altea was crazy popular. No matter what you were looking for: a place for dates, a quiet nook to catch up on work or school or a place to merry with friends, Altea was usually the first suggestion to pop up.

Did Lance say that he liked it earlier? Yeah, well, scratch that. He _loved_ it.

The atmosphere of warmth and home was enough to bring any crowd coming back for more. Lance likes to think that it's also because the people working there were nice and cute too. (Specifically him, but hey, his mama taught him to be humble.)

He'd gotten the job with Hunk a year ago. It'd been a hassle getting the ropes and finding their feet at first, much more troublesome than it should've been, especially considering the fact that both of them knew the place inside out. There had been two reasons for that.

One, it was a new job and people mess up new jobs sometimes. It was natural. This reason was probably about 20 percent of why they had it hard in the beginning.

Two, and this one packed a punch of the other 80 percent, maybe even more: everything in that damn cafe screamed Keith. Over and over again. The same nightmare. Keith. Keith. _Keith_.

Lance had attended a birthday party of his friend's when he was younger. Seven or eight, probably. One of the party games was them all pretending to be spies and having to creep through a roomful of red string, supposedly laser beams. The annoying things had been everywhere and Lance couldn't even shake his head without "triggering the alarm".

Being in that cafe was like walking through a dozen of those red string laser rooms and then back again untouched. Impossible.

Because that vase in the corner reminded Lance of the time Keith had written an essay on ancient pottery. Because the red guitar just above table nine made Lance's head echo with melodies Keith used to play on it. Because the display of sweet foods never failed to draw Lance's gaze to the raisin cookies because if Keith had been here, those would be gone in seconds, Keith loved raisin cookies.

Ghosts of memories Lance had taken for granted before haunted him down mercilessly. He could tell they did the same with Hunk. The first few days the poor guy barely had the stomach to spend two hours straight in the place without having to go out for a breather. Sometimes he came back in with red eyes and a runny nose.

Lance never commented, because he himself was constantly pushing unbelievable amounts of melanchony down.

_Why do you stay?_

_If it hurts so much, quit._

_Do what's good for you, Lance. Don't hurt yourself._

_Let go of the past, let go of him._

Every cheesy quote about letting bygones be bygones, every worried glance his friends and family gave him, Lance had heard and seen it all. He doesn't wonder why everyone had been so worried about him, even to this day. He had been a total wreck. Wouldn't anyone be the same, if their best friend suddenly took off to God knows where, without so much as a goodbye or even an explanation? All he'd ever gotten was a text saying not to worry, not to find him and goodbye.

Real talk, Lance had thought he was dead. Every night spent staring out the window into the familiar streets of his childhood home was accompanied with thoughts about how Keith could still be somewhere out there on ones that were completely alien to him.

He'd always been sort of protective over Keith, considering the fact that when they first met, he was the most innocent, quietest little duck Lance had ever met. Even Hunk couldn't compare and the dude was an _angel_ , kind and happy-go-lucky all the time. Keith was different, a slight off kind of quiet. As if everything he did and everything he said went through a filter, muffled like a silenced gun.

It made Lance want to keep him in a jar and make sure he wasn't being dragged into whatever shenanigans the nastier boys in class got up too. He would know first-hand, considering he had been one of them. 

Back to Altea. Lance had countered each and every one of the sympathetic comments and urges with one sentence: "I'm waiting for him."

That shut people up alright. It was well-known that Keith loved the cafe with all his heart and soul. If there was one place he'd come back to, it was that little sunny, warm and cozy cafe in the middle of Universe Street.

Lance wanted to be there when he did. Lock him up in a hug and never let him go, never let him leave again. Wanted to be there, because he'd used to joke with Keith that one of them would get a job there and the other would get free drinks and snacks and back then, Lance would have sacrificed all the free food in the world only for Keith to be safe . Needed to be there, because surrounded by things that his name written on them in bold black font that screamed for his attention, Lance felt the hope in his heart grow stronger every time he walked through those doors for work.

Time wore on and when Shiro told them about Keith doing fine and he was just in need of space, when Keith sent one last text that Lance ran his gaze through millions of times, Lance had felt a sinking feeling in his chest.

"Case closed." He'd joke with Hunk and Pidge, smile showing cracks in places he tried to patch up to no avail.

His light dimmed. His spirit died a little. His eyes didn't shine like they used to. Whatever all those cliche romance novels his sister reads say happen when your heart breaks.

Lance gave up the moment he read,

_I'm fine, guys. Shiro's told you why I took off, I hope you all respect that enough to please not come looking for me. Thank you for everything hope you guys stay happy and stuff_ _. Goodbye and love you guys._ _:)_

Keith never used emojis.  
  
  
  


-  
  
  


Keith felt the rush of familiarity rush into his bones as soon as he and Pidge step foot into the cafe. The smell of baked goods and coffee and the flowers from outside sent his mind spiraling in different directions. Ultimately, the sudden want for caffeine in his veins sent his gaze sweeping across the shop to the counter.

Surprise sent his eyes widening, eyebrows raising and mouth falling open.

He walked over to the familiar figure behind the counter and reached out a hand, though he wasn't sure what he intended to do with it. "H-Hunk?"

Said man snapped his head up and upon seeing Keith, his face broke out in a smile. "Hey, Keith, buddy!"

"Good to see you here again!" Hunk clapped a hand on his shoulder, leaning across the counter to do so. Keith placed his previously outstretched hand on the cool counter surface with a smile of his own. "Hunk, you saw me yesterday."

A look passed momentarily in Hunk's eyes that told Keith that there was a deeper meaning in his words but before Keith could read further between the lines, another familiar voice exclaimed excitedly, "Keith!"

Keith knew who it was in milliseconds, turning around only to be proven right when he saw Lance tripping his way over, a circular serving tray tucked beneath his arm.

Wait.

"Lance works here too?" Keith spluttered, only to receive an amused nod from Hunk as the both of them watched as Lance halted half-way to let a couple of kids run past.

"Have been the past year. We started the same time."

Keith eyed the Cuban boy, who he was so used to seeing in casual wear that the sight of him donning the trademark waiter's short sleeved button-up, maroon waiter's apron wrapped snugly around his waist and his own dark jeans threw Keith off slightly.

Granted it was in the best way possible. Kind of like how an item you've wanted to have for the longest time looks like when you finally get it and place it somewhere in your home. The new and the old clashing together to form a sense of new beginnings and a deep unwavering sense of comfort.

Keith couldn't help but smile fondly.

"You're here!" Lance arrived in front of him, eyes sparkling and white teeth showing in a happy grin.

"I'm here." Keith echoed simply. "You didn't tell me you and Hunk worked here."

Lance shrugged nonchalantly, setting the tray down on the counter before taking hold of Keith's arm. Before Keith could ask him what he was doing, Lance dragged him over to the other side of the counter where a few bar stools stood unoccupied.

'What-?"

"I suppose you're here for a drink. Pidge is always craving caffeine whenever she comes in here. Never food."

Keith blinked. "Yeah, that sounds nice, but why here?" Still, he obediently climbed up onto one of the bar stools on Lance's persistent ushering.

"No friend of mine is sitting on those rickety tables when the babies are here." The corners of Lance's blue eyes crinkled slightly as he grinned confidently, tapping the bar stools. "Plus, it's become Pidge's favorite spot in the cafe. She likes to chat with Hunk, I think."

"And you?"

Lance gave him a look that read _What about me?_ before his gaze flitted to the doors when the chime of bells signaled the arrival of a new customer. Keith hoped whoever it was, they'd take their time ordering. He wanted to talk with Lance and his job that revolved around moving around the cafe few times per minute wasn't exactly putting the odds in Keith's favor.

"What's your favorite spot?"

"Oh." Lance nodded thoughtfully, tapping his chin. "Good question. Will get back to you after I get back from table five and seven though." With that, he moved to leave and Keith's heart sank to his ribs. He lowered his eyes to the marble counter top.

"Hey, I'll call you." Just at that, his eyes snapped back upwards, meeting Lance's sapphire ones.

"My shift ends in about two hours. When it does, I'll call you. Get Pidge and come pick us up, mmkay?" Lance said, index fingers pointing at Keith imploringly. "Sound good?"

Keith could feel the fond smile stretch his lips again. He nodded, "Sounds great." At this, Lance gave him one last grin before plunging back into the fray that was his job.

"Why you gotta be so gay, dude?" Keith jumped violently. Pidge sipped her drink through a straw silently beside him. "I mean, like come on. I don't mind you being gay with some random guy on the street, but with Lance. And here, I thought you had standards."

"I do. Lance just happens to reach most of them. Not that it matters, he's a friend. Besides, I've only seen the guy for the first time in years just yesterday." Keith felt the blood rush to his face, rambling on in embarrassing mumbles.

Pidge released the straw in her mouth, letting it roll in her plastic cup. Keith noticed it was crumpled and misshapen from biting. "Is there a point to your rambling?"

"Point is," Keith felt his ears burn now and he glared at Pidge, who showed no signs of being intimidated at all. Instead, seeing her undisturbed gaze, he felt like he might as well try to stop oxygen from flowing into a room. "it's not like that. I bet you I can go ask that guy over there for his number and he'll be the exact same thing. Same laughs, same jokes, same click."

Pidge gave a somber nod. Her hand reached for the straw and she fiddled with it, twisting it, bending it and using it to stab the bits of ice in her drink. "So you admit you and Lance click?"

"Well, you kinda have to to spend years as best friends!" Keith argued, throwing his hands up. "How did we even get to this conversation? Change of subject, now."

"Okay." Pidge agreed immediately. Keith frowned at her through his bangs. That was way too easy. "Drink."

"You-" Keith stared open-mouthed at the drink in Pidge's other hand, wrapped in a small plastic bag and the straw still new and unbitten beside it. "You got me a drink?"

"No, I got you kerosene." Pidge rolled her eyes, before jerking the bag closer to Keith's face. "Of course it's a drink, dummy. Now take it."

Keith did, wordlessly and uncertainly. The cold of the drink seeped through the plastic and chilled his fingers. "You remembered what I used to order?"

"You forget who had caffeine duty for three years straight." Pidge gave a groan at the memory. "I could probably recite all of your orders, front and back, upside down even."

"Okay, I got it." Keith flicked her hair, which she responded to with a swat to his arm. "Are we gonna just stay here or are we gonna explore more?"

"Depends." Pidge shrugged.

"On what?"

"On whether or not you can keep your gay ass from gravitating to everywhere Lance is for more than an hour."

"If you want, I can show you the way to heaven."

"Heaven and not hell?"

"Nah, figured I'd have a better show of seeing you fall from the former to the latter that way."

Pidge tsked, "Touche."  
  
  
  


-  
  
  


"Allura works here part-time and see that bookstore over that way?" Keith followed Pidge's finger as she pointed somewhere in the distance. He squinted past the sun biting into his eyes, barely making out the little sign that swayed in the wind.

"Yup."

"Coran helps out there too sometimes." 

Keith glanced fleetingly at the dance studio where Allura apparently taught at part-time. The plaster columns and roses growing in window boxes outside the windows was very much Allura, Keith decided, not at all very surprised.

"You weren't kidding with workplaces." Keith mused, taking a tentative sip from his drink. "It's like a conspiracy the way you all seemed to be able to bag jobs in the same street."

"You and your conspiracies." Pidge laughed, "But seriously though, it's a conversation starter for sure."

"What about you?" Keith asked the small girl beside him, turning to look down at her on the bench they were seated on. "You have a job, don't you?"

"Sure do." Pidge replied slowly. "It isn't here, though."

"What have you been up to now?"

"Nothing, I swear! It's just the usual inventing and coding and programming. It's all on the web though. Pays enough to get by and then some."

"Sounds like you." Keith cocked his head, shaking a few water droplets off his hand from the drink. "Matt doing the same thing?"

At the mention of her brother, Pidge stiffened and Keith could see the sudden tension in her posture clear as day. He wondered if he'd said something wrong but against his better judgement, probed on further.

"He's doing fine, right? I mean, he's Matt. More like a slippery eel than a person when it comes to technical difficulties."

To his relief, Pidge let out an airy laugh. "Oh, I'm sure he's doing fine. I'm just salty that he hasn't been telling me that he is."

"What do you mean?"

"He hasn't been responding to any of my messages for weeks now. Even if his work prevents him from normal social interactions for fear of leakage of government information, he'd still be able to drop a message at least saying that _hey Pidge it's Matt I'm fine and not dead_. Right?"

Keith felt a curl of nauseating guilt. He'd done the same thing before and it clenched his heart painfully to know that Pidge not only had to bear his own disappearance all those years ago but now had to relieve the same nightmare, only with her own brother this time. As he looked at her, he didn't even begin to fathom the pain behind the shiny glisten of moisture in her eyes.

"Just wish he'd at least try. I mean, we have our own coding even, for Christ's sake! A form of communication kept for times when we can't spare the time for texting. All it takes is a few seconds and the Garrison can't even let that slide."

Keith froze. He snapped his head to Pidge fully, vision tunneling on her and his drink clutched in hand, clearly forgotten. He forced his mouth and voice to work. "Did you say the Garrison?"

"Yeah. The crappy private airlines providing for the government, their minions and their stupid top secret information that can go burn in hell for all I care because-"

"Pidge, you don't understand! I used to work at the Garrison!" A flicker of surprise sparked in Pidge's eyes but it died down soon enough. "Well, if you're looking for me to apologize for trashing on your old workplace, you can stick your sorry ass-"

"What?" Keith shook his head.. "No! That's not what I meant."

Pidge cocked her head, motioning for him to elaborate. "I wasn't an official employee there, but sometimes they'd let me fly some test flights. I had a few friends there that smuggled me intel about the going-ons in there. Government or not, the info was mine."

Keith felt a smirk tug at his own lips as Pidge's did the same. Mirth danced in her eyes and she giggled, as if the idea of Keith illegally getting hold of highly classified documents was hilarious to her.

"Even though I'm interested in that particular process, I'm guessing it's not your main point."

Keith proceeded cautiously, the initial excitement from his breakthrough waning away. "I'm saying that if I pull the right strings, I might be able to get more intel."

Pidge's eyes shone in the sun as she slowly caught onto what he was implying. He could see the hesitance still there, as if she thought this was too good to be true.

"This time on Matt and whatever he's doing, where he is, whether he's okay. You know, all that. But I understand if you want to do so yourself, cause I know it's you and you like doing things like this yourself but-"

His rambling was cut short by two arms pulling him forward and a mouthful of caramel hair as Pidge reached for a hug.

"Keith, that'll mean so much to me." He heard her say with a choked up voice and he let his own hands move to pat a little comforting rhythm on her back. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

"Hold yourself in, Pidge." Keith chuckled as she pulled away, seating back on her original perch on the bench beside him. "I can't guarantee anything will come out of it."

"You'll try your best, won't you?" Pidge questioned him softly, swiping carelessly at the edges of her eyes, glasses pinched in her other hand.

"You know I will." Keith promised.

"Then it doesn't matter if it works." Pidge smiled, nudging her glasses back into place. "I still owe you the world for trying."  
  
  


-  
  
  


True enough, Keith's phone rang a few minutes after. He jumped before pulling it out and glancing at the caller ID. Pidge looked at it over his shoulder, checking the unknown number for him. "Yep, that's Lance."

Keith nodded, pressing to accept the call. Pressing the cool surface of the screen to his ear, he asked hesitantly, "Hello?"

"Keith! Hi." Lance's voice reached his ears with a bit of electronic static, but still as smooth and melodious as always. "Care to pick me and Hunk up now?"

"Yeah, sure." Keith threw a meaningful glance at Pidge who nodded and both of them stood up, Pidge throwing both their empty cups into the bin nearby.

"Stay there in the cafe, we'll be there in five."

"Kay." After the last word had reached Keith's ear, there was a pause. Total silence from Lance's side and Keith frowned slightly.

"Lance?"

"Yeah?" Oh, so he was still there.

"Aren't you gonna hang up?"

"Right." Lance sounded slightly flustered at the other end of the line. Or was that just Keith's mind playing tricks on him? "Sorry, don't like hanging up first."

"I can do it?" Keith offered, not prepared at all for the immediate shriek in his ear, "No, don't!" It was so loud that Keith had to pull away from the phone with a wince for a moment, catching Pidge's sympathetic and yet amused gaze at him from the corner of his eye.

"So we're just not gonna hang up, neither of us?" Keith said into the phone, eyebrow raised. "This is ridiculous, Lance."

"You can hang up when you come by." Lance's meek voice came a few seconds later.

"That doesn't do anything, Lance and is by far the worst idea I've ever heard of."

"And yet you're still here, very much not hanging up!"

Keith nearly stopped in his tracks completely, taken aback by the sudden realization that he was playing right into Lance's hands. "Oh, you cheeky little-"

"I see you!" Lance yelled and a bunch of rustling came from his end, Keith assumed he was on the move. "Hunk, they're here!"

Keith stopped outside the glass door, phone still held up to his cheek and hand stuffed in his jeans pocket. Through the transparent surface, he could see Lance, who stood in the middle of the store, his own phone angled to his ear.

He watched as Lance's mouth moved and immediately his voice crackled to life in Keith's phone. "Hey." He sounded breathless, like he'd just been laughing till all the air in his lungs was gone in an explosion of joy.

"Hi." Keith smiled as Pidge muttered, "Gay." He didn't take much notice, he'll deal with her later. His undivided attention was sorely on Lance, who'd given him a soft wave. "You can hang up now, you know."

"I know." Keith shrugged. "No screeches of protests this time?"

"Well, you are literally in front of me, Keith."

Keith laughed an airy chuckle of his own. "Bye then."

"Bye."

He pulled the phone down and clicked the end call button, surprisingly feeling a twitch of reluctance. Pidge was looking at him unimpressed, "Are you done?" She drawled slowly, crossing her arms.

"Shut up and come on in." He shot back at her as he pushed the door open and motioned for her to go in first.

"Such chivalry." She snorted as she glided through the door, leaving Keith to walk in himself. As soon as he did, a hand was thrown over his shoulders and he buckled slightly under the force and weight.

"Hello again." Lance said with a slight giggle. "It's been forever. How've you been doing all these decades, huh, old friend?"

Keith shook his head and shrugged Lance off him. 'You're an idiot."

"I'm your idiot, mullet. Gotta learn to live with it. Catch." Something papery and brown flew past his vision and Keith reached out by instinct. Getting hold of it, he examined it.

A paper bag?

It took a second to realize he'd spoken out loud. Lance fixed him with a questioning gaze, "Well yeah, it's a paper bag. But has anyone ever told you that it's what inside, you know the actual contents, the things that were put into the bag itself that counts? And going on that information, you have to open it and so, ultimately thr paper bag is deemed definitively useless?"

"You are insufferable." Keith glared at him, not managing to muster up much bite in it though. Lance knew this and he made it obvious by laughing at Keith's weak attempt of an insult.

"Oh, thanks, Lance!" The sound of Pidge's voice exclaiming in happiness drew Keith's attention and he looked over to her picking out the contents in her own paper bag that Lance must've tossed her without Keith noticing.

When her hand came back out, it clutched a mini croissant. She bit into it and grinned at Lance, who smiled right back. "Did you think I was really going to let my favorite pidgeon go without her croissants? Yeah, I'm not a monster."

Keith watched as he walked over to the counter and leaned into the display cases, before picking out a brownie and slipping it into another paper bag.

"For Hunk." He informed Keith when he felt the latter's curious gaze on him. "Brownies are his favorite and we have leftovers so I figured why not?"

Keith had to fight the urge to smile at Lance's kindness. But if he was getting them all their favorite pastries, then-? Keith looked down at the paper bag in his own grasp.

He couldn't have- could he- but there was no way, it's been ages. But then again-

In a flash, Lance was by his side, gazing at him and the paper bag with inviting eyes, silently urging him to check it out. Feeling a strange sense of numbness, Keith did exactly that, reaching in only to pull out a cookie.

A raisin cookie.

"Y-You remembered." He gaped at Lance, who blew air through the gaps in his teeth. "Of course I did. You practically lived on raisin cookies that one time."

Hunk came out that moment from the back, having just done cleaning up. He wiped his large hands on the apron before slipping it off to hang on a hook. Lance had left Keith's side and was over handing Hunk his paper bag with a laugh.

Keith could try with all his being, but he wouldn't have been able to fight down the desperate urge to grab Lance by the shoulder and yell in his face how downright amazing of a friend he was. Instead, he settled on simply letting the warm and pleasant fondness in his chest show in a single smile.

It lasted till he got home, where he munched on the cookies happily, flicking bits of raisins and crumbs at Snowball.

 


	5. chapter five; of kittens and photos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Tough luck today, Hunk. Spill the beans."
> 
> To Keith's surprise, despite the slight panicky look in Hunk's eyes, he still managed to snicker. He had the sense to attempt to hide it behind knuckles but Keith questioned him incredulously. "What?"
> 
> "Get it?" Hunk gestured gleefully to an assortment of coffee beans next to Keith. As he turned to look at them, the strong smell invaded his senses for a second before he stopped himself from getting too lightheaded and turned back away. "Beans?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> somehow i can never find the right song to write this story to (sad wailing)
> 
> will let you guys know when i do find one so that you can set up the feeeelllllll you get? the atmosphere is important while reading
> 
> also sdcc premiering season 7 episode 1? absolutely wrecked me
> 
> mostly because im a wimp and love this space story and all its people way too immensely for it to be healthy but also because i have shallura in this story and damn shiro is gay boom ships are getting murdered everywhere and the news reporters are having a field day
> 
> i would fix it but honestly its a hassle to and plus i don't know a single thing about adam other than that he is hot, belongs to shiro and they make the ultimate buff gay daddies relationship that ive ever had the honor to see
> 
> if you guys want me to change the plot to it being that allura and shiro are just roommates while adam is off somewhere then just say it and i will
> 
> as always, thank you for reading and enjoy!

  
  
  
_Keith really didn't want to go to school that day. He didn't even feel like getting up at all._

_But here he is, wallowing in self-hatred just when he'd thought a few days ago he'd be able to put that part of his life aside for once. How naive an eleven year old can be._

_"Hey." A familiar voice shakes him out of his stupor and he looks to see a just as familiar face appear in his line of vision._

_"Lance?"_

_Said boy's vibrant smile melts into one of concern as he notices the way Keith's eyes looked worn down and dull, "The one and only. You okay?"_

_"I had a fight with Shiro." Keith blurts out, doesn't like the way his voice wobbles precariously. Lance doesn't seem to care though as he pulls a chair over._

_"What are you doing?" Keith frowns at him, eyes following the other boy as he settled into the chair, "Class is about to start."_

_"Who cares about class when my best friend is down?" Lance shrugs before melting in his seat, sinking a few inches as he does. He crosses his arms and his feet at the ankles. "Spill."_

_Keith doesn't say anything for a while, dark eyes searching Lance's brown face for something, as if daring him to give up, to get up, to leave just as all others did. He doesn't though, just sat there in silent anticipation. Keith notices the way he molds his body with the chair, as if telling him that he wasn't going anyway anytime soon._

_"Shiro hates me." He says finally in a small voice. Lance huffs._

_"I've heard you say a lot of stupid things, Keith." Lance glares at him when Keith tries to protest, causing him to shut his mouth and listen to what the Cuban boy has to say. "But that's got to be one of the dumberest ones."_

_"Dumberest isn't a word, dummy." Keith mutters, cowering in his own chair, hands slinking back to hide inside of the sleeves of his hoodie. With a wince, he realizes that in his half-brooding, half-tired stupor that morning, he'd grabbed a random hoodie to wear. Shiro had passed this one down to him as a thoughtful hand-me-down and suddenly Keith doesn't know whether to sink his whole head into it or tear at it to get it off._

_"It might not be,_ dummy _." Lance counters back. "But you_ ** _are_** _dumb."_

_"Not helping."_

_"If I told you that my mom hates me, would you believe it?"_

_Keith doesn't even need to think before he says instantly, "No, that's dumb." He's met Lance's mom before and knows that as strict as she can sometimes be, she didn't have a bone in her body that turned love into hate, only the opposite. Plus, he's seen her with Lance, the two were inseparable._

_Lance bolts in his seat, sitting straight up, like someone had poked his spine. "Exactly!"_

_"Your mom isn't Shiro."_

_"My mom loves me. Shiro loves you. What's the difference?"_

_"The difference is that I messed up, Lance." Keith whines, hands appearing again to drag down his face with a exasperated groan. "I hurt him and now he feels sad and it's all my fault. You don't understand."_

_There's a silence after his outburst and Keith feels a sudden grip of dread on his heart. Peeking through his fingers at Lance, he briefly wonders if he's messed this up too. He wouldn't be surprised, judging by the look of emptiness on Lance's face._

_"Keith. Take it from me, a person who's made a million mistakes and then a couple million more, no one really hates you as much as you think they do. Like if I did something wrong and hurt you, you wouldn't be mad at me forever, would you?"_

_A bit of color comes back into Lance's face when Keith shakes his head with vigor and he laughs softly. The black-haired boy feels glad to see the smile back on his face._

_"Me and you. You and Shiro. Same thing. No matter what happens, you'll still love us a lot and we'll still love you just as much._ **_He still loves you,_ ** _Keith."_

_Lance manages to crack Keith's barrier enough to induce a small quirk upwards of a pair of bitten to the point of swelling lips. He decides it's not enough, not just yet,_

_"Besides, I'm sure he knew what he was getting into when he signed up for the keep-Keith-away-from-the-hippos-at-the-zoo-at-whatever-cost job. I thinks he's doing good, because he stopped you from climbing up the glass to go play with them."_

_"You_ **_are_ ** _dumb."_

_The phrase falls from Keith's lips with a sharp nudge to his ribs but Lance knows even then it's more a habit than an actual imply that he, in fact was dumb._

_Because he made Keith laugh and that just had to count for something that wasn't dumb, hadn't it?._  
  


-  
  


Keith spends the next few days holed up in the apartment, because as much as Shiro and Allura had protested to the point of taking to the streets when he'd suggested paying rent for length of his stay, he still felt bad whenever the two of them paid for anything at his expense.

And also pure and utter irritation, because _how_ is it that whenever the time comes for digging pockets, they're always one step ahead of him, swiping their card or handing over dollar bills before he's even blinked?

It's leaving black tally marks on his conscience and Keith knows he has to rectify it quick before he goes into withdrawal mode and moves away completely. The least he could do was take over grocery shopping duty, maybe throw in a little more cat food for Snowball in the meantime, because _Lord Almighty, how is that cat still cat-shaped and not a round ball of fur_ because all she ever did was _eat_ and no matter what, she kept annoying Keith for scraps.

Problem was, to actually buy groceries and whatnot, you needed cash. Second problem was that Keith was short on the exact thing at this moment. The Garrison still will accept his application for a part-time job, even if he's moved away. Keith just has to email them and ask for the details.

He spends a whole few days doing so, _quiznak_ it's an exhaustively long process to apply for a job in governmental activities and when that's done, he gets in touch with a few friends there, asking them about Matt Holt. Thankfully, the man is well-known in the company apparently and so of course they know, and of course Keith gets all the info he needs and thanks them profusely.

And of course, he sends them on a quest to pummel Matt for not staying touch with Pidge, though he knows it's totally not intentional but would still like to get the point of his sister being worried across to him.

By five Keith is feeling like death warmed over and decides he need caffeine and cookies pronto. On his way to Altea, he busies himself texting Pidge, passing on everything he's gathered about Matt. She doesn't respond right away and Keith figures the little nerdbrain was probably busy with college work, maybe her mysterious job and doesn't push it.

Lance would hundred percent spam her. The thought pops up spontaneously in Keith's mind and he has proof to confirm that yes, Lance does spam. Said proof was just a tap away on his phone to the text conversations between them two. Keith doesn't think he's ever seen someone able too type at the speed of literal lightning, but then again, he has Lance to prove him wrong.

Scrolling idly through his contacts as he makes his way out of the apartment building, he realizes he still doesn't have Hunk's number and makes up his mind to acquire it somehow. Maybe he'll be at the counter when Keith arrives at Altea and he'll be able to ask for it then.

Lo and behold, Hunk was certainly to be found behind the counter, just crouched so lowly that Keith almost missed him entirely if not for the two pieces of bandanna sticking out.

As Keith weaved past leaving customers and waiters, as he neared Hunk, he heard the big guy's soft voice cooing and frowned. "Hunk?"

"Keith!" After three years of being secluded with no one to really do so, Keith is yet to get used to the feeling of people exclaiming his name in greeting, in surprise and in happiness. With pure nervous shock, though. No, that was new to the collection.

He raised an eyebrow at the beads of sweat forming on Hunk's forehead as he grinned widely, much too widely for it to be genuine. "How're you doing?"

"Hah, that's my line." Hunk muttered, "The barista is supposed to ask that, not the customer." His eyes darted down to the ground a few times, enough to make Keith suspicious.

Hunk would never tell him unless he forced him to cave. Keith formulated a plan. "Well, pretend you've ask me then. This is my answer, I need to go the restroom. Grab me a raisin cookie."

His sharp eyes had caught sight of the tray the cookies were supposed to be displayed on, a habit that had formed since his younger years addicted to the treats. Now, it was empty and Keith knew for a fact that Hunk would have to go on back to the kitchen and bakery area to get some more.

He felt a bit guilty as he ducked away and waited for Hunk to move. He did, just as he'd predicted and Keith took the chance to slip behind the counter. A box stood there, he reached for it but just before his fingers brushed the cardboard, he halted.

Yeah, he was feeling _so guilty_.

He straightened himself from the kneeling position he had been in and leaned against the counter, crossing his arms.

"Whoa, dude!" Hunk startles violently and nearly lets go of the neatly-packaged cookies in his hands. "How'd you-?"

"I walked." Keith shrugged, walking over to take over custody of the package. "Thanks."

"No problem." Hunk stammered and moved to go back to his place perched near the counter. Keith doesn't miss the quick glance he throws at the closed cardboard box.

They spend a few minutes like that, Keith still leaning against the counter, the sound of soft crunches seemed to sent a jolt of electricity down Hunk's spine every time. Finally, the bigger man turned to glare halfheartedly at Keith, who munched on.

"Am I really that bad at poker faces?"

"If it helps, I've been told to have a uncanny tendency to seeing straight through poker faces." Keith said, setting the package down on the counter, now significantly lighter after he had devoured about near half of it already.

Hunk spread his mouth in a painful smile, it looked more of a grimace. "Don't suppose you also have a tendency to have sudden memory wipes too?"

"Tough luck today, Hunk. Spill the beans."

To Keith's surprise, despite the slight panicky look in Hunk's eyes, he still managed to snicker. He had the sense to attempt to hide it behind knuckles but Keith questioned him incredulously. "What?"

"Get it?" Hunk gestured gleefully to an assortment of coffee beans next to Keith. As he turned to look at them, the strong smell invaded his senses for a second before he stopped himself from getting too lightheaded. "Beans?"

Keith bit back a groan as Hunk did a little jiggle of mirth. "You've been spending way too much time with Lance."

Hunk immediately lit up with his mouth in an O. "Yeah, Keith. About Lance-"

"Don't." Keith raised a hand to stop Hunk from saying anything more. He couldn't deny his interest piqued at the mention of their friend, after all, he could spend forever complaining about how Lance named him Mullet in his contacts but he refrained. Hunk knew how to push his buttons and now he was trying to use that knowledge to full use. There was no way he was allowing Hunk to change the subject just because he knew Keith had a weak spot when it came to Lance. "Not until you let the cat out of the bag."

At this, Hunk stiffened. "How'd you-?" He stuttered disbelievingly for the second time. Keith huffed impatiently, "Hunk, enough of the freeze-up act! Let me see what's inside the box."

Hunk broke out his stupor long enough to reach for the box before drifting away again. Keith opened his mouth to chide him again before realizing he was looking out for any nosy people, swinging his gaze to and fro. For the dozenth time, Keith wondered what exactly did he have in that box.

"C'mere." Hunk gestured for him and Keith shuffled closer. The box is opened and Keith doesn't know how his body wanted to react.

Should he hug it? But he didn't do hugging, not unless it was with Lance, or Pidge or Hunk or just about any of his close friends. Still, the strange urge to squish the eyeballs out of the little kitten looking up at him with the bluest eyes was hard to fight down.

"Oh, my God." Keith's hands flew to his mouth, eyes shining. "I want it to choke me."

"Dude, what?" He only half registered the questioning tone in Hunk's voice as he leaned in closer. The kitten was a white mass of tangled fur, accented in some parts with soft grey. As Keith's face drew closer, he could see its tiny pink nose twitch and he squealed softly.

"It's an angel."

"Whoa."

Keith tore his eyes away from the kitten in the cardboard box to face Hunk, whose eyebrows arched upwards and his mouth fell open in a soft 'O'.

"Never knew you'd turn into a soft little child around animals." Hunk rubbed his hands together in glee. "Keith Kogane, resident angry red bean turns into a pile of goo when faced with a kitten."

"Say that again and I'll take it home myself." Hunk gave a gasp, though it was so dramatized that Keith knew it had to be fake.

"In your dreams, Kogane. You'd have to get through Lance first."

"Easy way out, he moves in with me." Keith spread his hands wide, smile on his face. "Done."

He expected a chortle or a playful push. He gets what he didn't see coming, Hunk drifting off into heavy, thoughtful silence that was so thick that Keith couldn't find a way to poke through. He settles on focusing his attention on the kitten and nearly screams when he gets it to place a tiny paw on his hand.

"Hey, Keith. Look, my shifts ending in ten or so minutes and I need a partner in crime to smuggle this little one out of the cafe and into the apartment. Got your resume and application form?"

"No need." Keith smirked, "I'm sent by the spy company, code name 007 but heads up, I'm actually from the other side and am going to push you off the elevator later on."

"What an unexpected plot twist."  
  


-  
  


Through all his years, Keith never thinks he'd live through to see the day when he stuffs a very wriggly kitten in his scarf and attempts to sneak out the cafe under the guise of the consistent mewls being his phone ringtone.

Not one of his proudest moments sure, but he learns to let it go when Hunk thanks him to the ends of the earth and back after it. Hunk himself sneaks the kitten into the apartment later on, using almost the same technique Keith used in the cafe.

Turns out his apartment doesn't allow animals. Well, just great.

Keith shakes his head as Hunk hands him the kitten gently before rummaging into his deep pockets to find the key. Keith lets it chew on his gloved fingers to prevent it from making too much noise, so far that tactic's been working well.

A thought suddenly strikes him, that this was exactly what Lance does, smuggling a kitten out of basically anywhere and letting it annihilate his clothing willingly was exactly up his alley and street and whatever walkway that exists because _this is so Lance_. Keith can feel his mischievous presence at every turn and he voices so.

"This has Lance written all over it." Muttering and yelping in slight pain when the kitten sinks its claws into the part where his finger lays bare of glove, he's hurried into the apartment by Hunk.

It's not until he closes the door behind him well and truly shut does Hunk respond to him. "Yeah, so true. But he's in class right now and I can't very well bother him. Thanks for being my partner-in-crime."

"Temporary partner-in-crime." Keith says pointedly, placing the kitten tentatively on the couch and watches it flounder about, curious about its new surroundings.

"Nope." Hunk chides him, waving a finger in his face, "Once a partner-in-crime, always a partner-in-crime. Lance might be my right hand, but you deserve a permanent placing in our kick-butt spy squad after sneezing and pretending you had a cold just because the kitten meowed."

Keith raises a playful eyebrow, "And not because I didn't shove you off the elevator?"

"Well, yeah. That too, I guess." Hunk winks at him.

Keith smiles as Hunk walks off somewhere, only to return shortly after changed out of his work-clothes and now wearing a more comfy looking shirt and baggy shorts. Hunk heads to the kitchen and asks Keith to wait and keep an eye on the kitten for him, before bustling to do whatever it is he wanted to do.

Keith takes the time to observe his surroundings. He's in presumably the living room. He also notices the many scratches on the coffee table's surface and wonders briefly what happened to it, Hunk's usually so careful. Next, his gaze slides over to the futon and one couch shoved into the space in a L, pillows and cushions tossed unceremoniously around on them.

There are pictures, spanning the walls in a kind of here-and-there mosaic, all in frames of different sizes, types and colors. Keith moves towards them, a sudden want to know what had passed in the years he's been gone instilled in his mind.

All the pictures contained Hunk himself, Pidge, Lance, Coran, Allura, Shiro and Matt occasionally, all with bright smiles that seemed to reach past the pixels and into Keith's chest, straight to his heart.

All the pictures ranged from oldest on the left and the most recent ones on the right. Keith starts from the very left. It was a polaroid, where someone had scribbled down the words, Brand new home, brand new start! in yellow sharpie under a picture of a widely smiling Hunk in front of what seemed to Keith to be the living room, except stripped bare of any furniture. Keith feels a pang of bittersweetness.

So he'd missed Hunk's first move-in.

As he edged closer to the right, the list of _things Keith missed out on because he was a downright crappy human being_ only grew longer _._ He's just reached 32 when Hunk returns and with him comes a whiff of familiar warm sweetness. Keith turns around curiously only to meet with a steaming cup of hot chocolate.

"Uh." He draws on very intelligently as Hunk smiles at him, almost as warm as the steam that's starting to cause droplets of perspire on Keith's cheeks.

"For you. A thank-you gift, if you will." Hunk offers and Keith takes the mug with a nod. "Thank you."

"No problem. What were you up to?"

"Uh." Keith starts to wonder when he's lost brain cells because now he can't even form a full sentence. Hunk doesn't need an answer though, because Keith is bang splat right in front of the photo wall and that tells him all he needs to know.

"Don't think we've ever had a proper conversation since you've been back." Hunk turns his gaze back on Keith and it's unexpectedly soft with understanding. "Wanna catch up?"

"Wouldn't like anything better."

The two of them sat down on the carpeted floor next to the sofa where the kittten was now rolling about. Keith doesn't say anything, doesn't know what to say at all and so takes the chance to take a slightly longer than necessary sip from his mug. Immediately, sweetness blossoms on his tongue and warnth curls down his throat to his stomach. He closes his eyes for a moment in sheer bliss.

Beside him, Hunk heaves an amused laugh, "Amazing, right? Lance and I spent a week concocting the perfect blend. Totally worth it. This is the real deal." He swirls the chocolatey contents in his own cup.

"Why am I not surprised the two of you would do something like that?" Keith smiles and induces more laughter to bubble out of Hunk's chest. "Man, you haven't even _heard_ of that one time where Pidge and Lance stayed up for three days straight..."

Keith never was one for conversation but he supposes long, long, _long,_ almost two-hour chats with one of his best friends about his other best friends makes a pretty good exception.

" You should come with me next time I go to the bookstore to donate a few books for the children's reading section. Get to talk with Coran then." Hunk offers after Keith admits to not spending as much time with the ginger man as he would like to.

"Let me known when." Keith taps his phone, where he had just saved Hunk's number in his contacts list. Hunk nods before lapsing into silence. Keith gazes at him as Hunk's face turns thoughtful and against his gut feeling, asks, "What are you thinking about?"

"Would you be okay if I asked you about something a bit more personal?" Hunk asks haltingly and fiddles with his fingers. He stares at Keith with anticipation.

Keith already knows where this is going and honestly he's surprised he's waited this long to have this conversation. So he takes a deep breath and nods, "Yeah, sure."

Hunk looks visibly relieved and mumbles softly, "Okay, good. I legitimately thought you were going to split on me, man." Keith stays silent as he watches Hunk shake his bangs out of his face. "Okay, so why did you run away?"

Keith blanches before swallowing, "You know why and I didn't _run away._ I had to have some time and space to myself for a while, just to clear my head."

"It was because of _that_ , wasn't it?" Hunk speaks in hushed tones, as if trying not scare Keith away. "Pidge and I figured so, but then we couldn't get Shiro to say anything and so we left it. Turns out we were right after all."

"You were right." Keith echoed. Hunk looks at him.

"You're really over him?"

Keith doesn't take a half-second to respond, "Yes." He catches a glimpse of sadness flit over Hunk's features. "Are you sure?"

"Positive." Keith nods. It had just been an infatuation, a case of extreme puppy love that Keith knew, even back then, was never going to turn out in his favor. Daydreams stayed daydreams, no more, no less. That's what he'd learned the whole time he'd been away.

"Pity. You two would look cute together for sure."

"Hunk."

"Sorry, sorry!" The larger man held up his palms in surrender, cracking a grin at the halfhearted glare Keith had tossed at him. "So did you find someone else or did you do it all over sheer willpower?"

Definitely sheer willpower. Also, a whole of crying and running so hard his limbs might've stood an actual chance of falling off, but Hunk didn't need to hear that.

They fell into another heavy silence. Hunk was twisting his fingers together again, something Keith's learned by now means that he was nervous.

"You can say whatever you want to say, ask whatever it is you need answers to, you know." Keith says hesitantly, loathing the fact that he isn't good with words and probably never will be but he swallows his pride and continues on.

"I owe you and the others an explanation and-" _and honestly, I don't think I can ever approach the subject by myself because I might start crying so please just ask quickly so I can get over it._

"Alright, if you're okay with it." Hunk shrugs and asks question after question that has Keith's heart clenching in seizures of phantom pain. "Did you miss us at all while you away? Were you okay living by yourself? Were you living by yourself? What made you come back? What went down in that brain of yours to think that packing up and leaving was even remotely okay in the first place?"

Hunk was getting more and more evidently agitated as his ponders finally set themselves free and soon he was frowning in confusion and waving the arm that did not have a mug of hot chocolate in it around expressively in a way that reminded Keith of Lance.

Keith forced his lungs to inhale a breath of air, before blowing it all out slowly. One of them had to stay calm. Keith figured in this moment it was probably going to need to be him, even if he was also on the verge of impulsiveness anyway.

"Slow down." Keith motions so to Hunk before running through the questions in his head, answering them with a slow thoughtful tone.

"Of course I missed you, I'm not that big of a dick. It was okay, I guess. Living by myself, I mean. Shiro and Allura didn't think so though and got my parents on their side to move me into their apartment. That's why I came back. And as for the packing up and leaving-" Keith trails off, vision suddenly tunneling as he stares stubbornly at the brown swirls in his stark white mug.

"It was a dick move of me to do that to you guys."

"It was. We thought you were dead for a while."

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry. I understand you won't forgive me but just know that I am." Keith's voice catches in his throat and he blinks a few times.

"Keith, buddy. I have forgiven you."

"Huh?" Keith looks up to meet his dazed gaze with Hunk's. He saw forgiveness, exactly what Hunk had said so, but couldn't bring himself to believe it.

"The moment you stepped back in Altea after three years. I saw you and suddenly all anger vanished and all I could think was, 'thank the lord he isn't dead.'"

Keith scoffed softly.

"You might've left but you came back. And I suppose you're not counting on splitting on us again any time soon, right?"

"Not a chance."

"Perfect. You've learned your lesson." Hunk smiles, "Besides, you said you only did it because you need time to think. Who knows, maybe if you hadn't gone, you would jump right off the rails and go crazy?"

Keith laughs breathlessly. "You manage to find the silver lining in everything, don't you?"

"It's a skill I'm proud of." Hunk laughs along with him, patting his arm. Keith couldn't help but let a soft sad sort of emotion he doesn't know the name of come over his face. It stays there as Hunk begins to start the conversation up again with a new topic, something about starting to learn photography professionally so that he can finally do the photo wall justice.

Keith wonders if he's been waiting for him to come back before considering, before deciding that capturing moments of their little messily-stitched-together _finally whole_ family was worth the effort. Keith knows he would wait too, if it was anyone else who had gone like he did. A family can't be whole when one of the members was gone, after all and Keith knew it.  

"Hey." He nudged Hunk, who looked at him imploringly. "I'll pay for the lessons if you take at least ten pictures a day."

Hunk stays silent for a good three beats of Keith's hammering heart and in that short time, he's wondering if Hunk would refuse. _Let me do at least this one thing_. Keith finds himself pleading.

"That," Hunk finally says with a solemn voice that makes Keith's spirits drop.

-is absolutely unnecessary.

-is unacceptable, I can't let you do that.

"-is so great of you, Keith! And don't worry, I won't let you down." A bright light blinds Keith.

Hunk's holding a baby blue Polaroid camera in his hands and Keith wonders briefly where he's managed to stash it. Before he had time to ask, a slip of photo spills into Hunk's waiting fingers and he shakes it to and fro.

He gets up and produces a bit of blue tack, using it to pin the photo to the wall.

"Lance and Pidge get to come home to a new addition." Hunk announces before a red marker materializes in his hands. Seriously, where does he get all this stuff from?

Keith realizes with a start that Hunk is extending the marker in his direction. He gets up, pads over and grasps it with both hands, like it's a offering from God himself, a slice of heaven when he's been living nowhere but hell for all his life instead of what it really is.

A turn for him to write on the photo wall.

Forget what he said earlier, this was an offering from God, a chance at fate and Keith grabs at it with both hands, not planning on ever letting it slip away as he steps up to the newly-pinned photo.

It's of himself, just from Hunk's angle. His dark eyes have a burst of light in them from the flash of the camera but it doesn't cover the absolute soft look in them and God, he looks like a sap with that look on his face.

Keith loves it anyway and steps closer with a stupid grin on his face.

 _Good to be back home._ He writes, watches the red ink dry like tears being wiped away and means it with all his goddamn heart.

 


End file.
